Harry Potter and Salazar's Legacy
by BolshevikMuppet99
Summary: Book 2 of the Downward Spiral Saga: Sequel to HP and the Homecoming. Voldemort is back, but no one know it. At least, not yet. At Hogwarts though, strange things are occurring. What can Harry do, now that half the school believe he is Slytherin's Heir? Eventual Dark!Harry, Slytherin!Harry. Sequel has begun! HP and the Year of Broken Chains.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE RIGHTS TO HARRY POTTER, ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS, MAGIC, SETTING, OR ANY WORLDBUILDING. THOSE RIGHTS BELONG TO JK ROWLING AND WARNER BROS. I MAKE NO MONEY OFF THIS.  
**

 **THIS IS THE SECOND OF A PLANNED SEVEN (ALTHOUGH, I MAY ADD IN SOME ONESHOTS AND OUTTAKES) 'BOOKS'. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST ONE, YOU WILL PROBABLY BE QUITE CONFUSED.**

 **CONTENT/TRIGGER WARNING: SEE THE WARNING IN THE PROLOGUE TO BOOK 1**

 **PAIRINGS WILL NOT BE FINAL UNTIL SIXTH YEAR.**

 **PLEASE READ AND REVIEW/P.M. I AM VERY INTERESTED IN HEARING YOUR THOUGHTS AND CRITIQUE.**

' _content' —_ Thoughts

 _ **Content**_ _—_ In story books

"$ _content$"—_ Parseltongue

 **ENJOY!**

Prologue

Harry awoke from a fitful dream, taking a few moments to remember where he was. By the time he had picked his glasses off the bedside table, he had recalled it. He was staying at the Malfoy's spacious Manor and had been for most of the summer. 

' _What was that dream about anyway? I wish I could remember my dreams'_

All he kept from this dream was a vague indication of being strong. He didn't know anything else about it, only that he had quite liked the feeling.

' _Well, I am feeling awake now. Might as well read a bit'_

"Dobby," He said, feeling a bit dumb, talking to an empty room, "Can you help me please?" 

An instant later, the Malfoy's house elf appeared.

"Could you light the candle for me, please? Mr's Malfoy said not to use magic unless she or Lucius are watching, and I don't know where I put the matches"

"Of course, Master Harry", the house elf squeaked, rushing forward to do as Harry had asked. "Master Harry is a great wizard, to obey his host's request so graciously".

The house elf stared at Harry for a moment longer before bursting into tears. Harry sighed. This had been happening quite frequently lately, and it had been bad enough in broad daylight in front of Draco, but it was another thing altogether when he had a bawling house elf in his room in the middle of the night.

"Sshhh! I don't want you to wake anyone up" Harry half hissed, half said.

Immediately, the elf punched itself in the nose.

' _Well, at least it's stopped crying. God, I hope Lucius was serious when he said he would replace this mad thing'_

"Dobby," Harry said over the elf's furious sniffling, "Could you get me a cup of tea, please? No sugar, but lots of milk?" 

Dobby nodded ferociously. "Anything for Master Harry, sir", it said, before disappearing.

Harry pulled the thick tome off his bedside table and opened it up. Lucius had advised Harry to read this philosophy book, and Harry wanted to ask the man some questions on it, but first, he wanted to re-read the chapter in question. 

Dobby quickly re-appeared, and Harry accepted the cup of tea from the grinning elf, barely looking up from his book. He muttered thanks, and the house-elf disappeared, bursting into tears again. 

_**As I have previously discussed, the purpose of the law is not to serve as some moral high ground, but to lead a society to function well. The law is not handed down from some god or gods, it is decided by men. If men can be flawed, the law will be flawed. As such, it is our duty to not see the law as some shining beacon of righteousness, but as merely a vehicle to allow society to flourish. This being the case, it is an obligation for us to think on this-What makes the law binding upon us?**_

 _ **Nothing at all. Nothing that is, but our acceptance of it. The law is binding upon us a society, but not upon us as individuals, SHOULD THOSE INDIVIDUALS PROVE CAPABLE OF LIVING OUTSIDE THE LAW!**_

 _ **This is an important fact. Any individual, who is worthy of throwing off the yoke of the socially enacted rules and regulations, and who chooses to do so, is not only acting on morally sound ground but is being brutally honest with himself.  
**_

The book carried on in such a vein for the next ten pages or so, but Harry was nodding off.

Hundreds of miles away, in his long-ago prepared safe house in Innsmouth, Lord Voldemort was interviewing his latest prisoner.

To be honest, interviewing would not be quite the correct word to use. He had Crucio'd the terrified man a few times, and was now being flooded with images and bits of memory as they flew past him. He pulled at some of them, delving deeply into events and times long past, and caught up on the last eleven years.

Quirrell had been relatively useful in letting him know what he had missed out on as he roamed the world as a spirit, but it was not the same as having lived through it.

He pulled out of the man's mind and watched as his head lolled forwards onto his neck. He had been told that his use of Legilemency was quite—Devastating.

' _I wish I could kill this man. This embarrassment to the power he is capable of wielding"_

Voldemort had decided against leaving any of his (admittedly unwilling) informants nothing more than cooling corpses. The time for drawing attention was still in the future. For now, his plans were still in the information gathering stage.

He had written to the daily prophet, as Mr. Tomas Tapmaca from Azerbaijan, claiming to be writing a book on the aftermath of the Wizarding War. They would be sending him their issues from his downfall until a year later, along with the transcripts of his followers' trials. He had given a begrudging laugh when he discovered that specific alias was still not connected to him. It was rather fitting, really. 

' _I need to send this back now. Much longer, and people will notice he is missing. Soon, soon I will take someone simply for my own pleasure. Soon'_

"Portus," He said, still relishing in the use of his own magic. 

He slapped his informant awake. ' _Magic is the greatest, but there is a wonderful charm to using one's own limbs'_

"Obliviate". "You were on the way home from work, and you decided to stop for a drink at the Leaky Cauldron. You will not remember any of this. Not even in your deepest dreams"

The man's eyes still had the unfocused, blank look of one who had just lost some of their memories. Quickly, Voldemort forced the man to touch the portkey, removing him from the safe house before he contracted a sudden case of being horribly murdered.

He reset the anti portkey wards and settled down to think. 

And to plan.

 **WELCOME, TO THE SECOND INSTALLMENT IN THE SAGE OF HARRY POTTER.**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: I OWN NOTHING.**

 **TO THE GUEST REVIEWER IN CHAPTER 11 OF YEAR 1, WHO SAID I'VE JUST BEEN IGNORING ALL THE ABUSE HARRY'S SUFFERED—IT'S ON PURPOSE. I PROMISE YOU, THAT ABUSE WILL HAVE SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS THROUGHOUT THE SERIES, AND IT WAS NOT BEING DISCUSSED FOR A REASON. YOU'LL UNDERSTAND MORE LATER IN THIS STORY.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter One

Harry could barely believe that the summer was nearly over. He had spent a glorious two months staying at the Malfoys, and was almost, but not quite, unhappy to have to return to Hogwarts. His break had been the next best thing to idyllic, being able to do whatever he and Draco decided they wanted to. It had been a fantastic holiday. Most of their friends had come over at some point or another. Blaise had gone to Italy with his mother, so he wasn't around, but everyone else visited. They had some fun times. Barbecues, Quidditch games, swimming—and Harry still had found time to read.

Lucius had hosted a dinner for some fundraising event for St. Mungo's Hospital. Harry had been introduced to many of the most important political figures, including the Minister for Magic. It had definitely been interesting, the Minister, a short, nervous-looking man, had almost dropped his hat when he shook Harry's hand. It didn't really inspire much confidence in the man, but Harry assumed there must be some reason he had been elected. Harry had spent much of that night avoiding his Headmaster. As head of the Wizengamot, he couldn't just be not invited when all his peers were. Even though Lucius had expressed his displeasure at being forced to welcome the man into his own home. Harry still wasn't quite sure how he felt about the old wizard. He often wanted to punch the man right in his spectacles, but other times he felt as if he would like to just forgive him. He didn't really enjoy carrying anger around within him. In the meantime, Harry decided to simply avoid the man as much as he could. It might not be so easy once he returned to school, but it would be mostly do-able.

At the moment though, he was preparing to go shopping with Lucius and Draco. He had given Narcissa (She had chided him early on in the break for referring to her as Mrs. Malfoy), a blood-quill signed letter for Gringotts the previous week, and when she had gone there to sort out something she had withdrawn money for him. His purse was full, his stomach was full, and he was ready to hit the town. A pity that Draco wasn't, really.

Eventually, Draco finished eating. Moments later, Lucius called them both into his study.

"Harry," the man said, "You've never traveled by Floo, correct?"

Harry looked nervously at the fireplace.

"Uh, no sir. I've read about it though"

Lucius gave Harry an indulgent smile, "Of course you have" He murmured. "Well, Draco will go first, and he will wait for us precisely where he comes out" He turned his head towards his son, voice becoming far harder, "Won't you, Draco?"

"Yes, sir," Draco said, looking down at his shoes.

The blonde boy took a pinch of the powder his father was professing and threw it into the fireplace, turning the flames bright green.

"Remember Draco, we are going to Knockturn first"

Draco nodded, before stepping into the fire.

Harry gasped slightly. Even though he had known how Floo powder worked, he still was not fully prepared to see his best friend step into a roaring fire.

"Knockturn Alley" Draco said slowly, emphasizing the words strongly. With that, he spun around very, very quickly, and was gone.

"You go, Harry".

Harry took some of the powder from the box in Lucius' hand. It felt oddly oily to touch it.

"Say it clearly Harry. Don't let the words get muddled, or you'll end up somewhere else"

Gulping, Harry practiced the name a few times. He threw the powder into the flames, which changed again and stepped in. The fireplace felt cool, the flames licking him no more than a dog's tongue.

"Knockturn Alley," He said, trying to say it as slowly and carefully as he could.

And then he was spinning, faster and faster until suddenly he was being pulled, and tossed around, and then—

He stumbled out of the sooty fireplace into a dingy pub. Draco was standing there, waiting for him.

Harry looked around absentmindedly while he rubbed the ash off his robes.

This was definitely not the Leaky Cauldron.

There was a far-scummier type of crowd around here. People with hooded faces, people drinking firewhiskey at-Harry glanced at his watch- 10 in the morning.

"What's this place called?" He asked Draco, just as Lucius swirled into existence behind him.

"It's the White Wyvvern!" Draco said excitedly.

"Come, boys. We need to take care of something before heading to Diagon"

They left the pub, the barkeep bowing low as they passed.

"Sir?" Harry asked, "Why didn't we just Apparate here?"

"Knocturn Alley is warded against Apparition, Harry. A safety precaution"

"Why isn't Diagon Alley warded also?"

Lucius sneered. Whenever he did so, Harry was shocked at how much Draco resembled him.

"They wish to give a sense of warmth and welcome. Fools, the lot of them"

' _It is more convenient for them'_

"Knocturn is actually the older alley" Lucius continued, his tone slightly lecturing. "Originally, this was considered to be an unsafe area by muggles, and they avoided it at night. We adapted, and used it as our shopping ground, but only at night. Hence the pun in the name. Eventually, Diagon Alley was added on, and it became the main center for those of us willing to abandon tradition"

Harry and Draco kept getting distracted by the strange and vibrant sights around them, and Lucius kept having to call them to keep them moving.

"Are those actual heads?"

"Whoah! Look at that Hag!"

"You may look around the store, boys, but touch nothing," Lucius said, as he entered a shop. Harry could just make the name out on the faded sign.

 _ **Borgin and Burke.**_

The stooped over shopkeeper greeted them.

"Master Malfoy. Young Master Malfoy. And, Master Potter, I believe?"

The man's greasy tone grated on Harry's nerves. He was saved from answering by Lucius, who strode up the counter and begin talking in a low voice. The boys were too distracted by the objects around the store, although Harry could have sworn he heard the name "Weasley" mentioned, which made him feel a fleeting jet of hot rage.

"Harry, look at this!"

Harry looked where Draco was pointing. It seemed to be a severed hand, which a hole in the palm and a candle sitting in it. The plaque served to shed some light on it.

 _ **The Hand of Glory: The candle inserted will give light only to the one holding it, and to those he wishes. No matter what magical or natural means are used to cause darkness, the Hand will give light**_

"That could definitely be useful," Harry said thoughtfully.

The boys wondered the store, pointing out the gruesome contents to one another, and trying to come up with the most interesting backstory to it.

"Hey Draco, check this thing out," Harry said, pointing at the large wardrobe sitting in the corner of the room. The plaque on it wasn't particularly informative.

 _ **Vanishing Cabinet: The other in this pair is broken, and its location is unknown.**_

"What's a vanishing cabinet?" Harry said, mostly to himself.

"Oh, that's what it is. We've got one at home, a lot of the old families do"

"Thanks, Draco, now I know exactly what it is and what it does"

"Don't give me that. You have a pair of these cabinets, and you can travel from one to the other. You just go in, close the door, and when you open it you're in the other one"

"What's the point? I mean, you could just Apparate, or take a portkey, or-"

"They're for emergencies. The one we have will take you to a safe house. Also, all the other ways can be Warded against or blocked. These can't"

Harry looked at the shabby cabinet with more appreciation, but quickly realized-

"Well, if you can't block it, what use is it? If you're running from someone, you don't want them just chasing after you"

"If one of them has an open door, you can't travel through it," Draco said exasperatedly.

Lucius sent them off to the apothecary, while he went to sort something out at the Quidditch supplies store. Draco was so overexcited, he giggled quite loudly, in a very high pitch, then immediately looked around him, cheeks reddening.

Harry made a show of turning his head around slowly and looking confused.

"I thought I just heard Pansy. Did you hear anything, Draco?"

"Shut up"

"But, I'm sure that-"

"Shut up already".

Snickering, Harry followed Draco into the apothecary.

' _It's pretty cool of Lucius to buy brooms for the team'_

' _Its bribery is what it is, and you know it'_

' _Draco is a good player'_

' _So? It still isn't right! And you're being a part of it!'_

' _It's not wrong, it's just using every tool that I can to make sure I'm on the team'_

' _It's unfair!'_

"Can I help you?"

Harry blinked up at the shopkeeper, standing before him.

"Uh, yeah. Second-year Hogwarts, and"

The man just walked off.

' _That's kinda rude'_

He returned a few moments later, with a box.

"Here you go. I decided to make life easier on myself this year. Got a hold of all the school lists, and made a bunch of boxes beforehand. Seven Galleons please"

* * *

"I'm telling you, Harry, you're being ridiculous!"

"No, I'm not. You're just not listening!"

They were sitting and sipping their ice cream sundae's at Fortescue's, while they waited for Lucius to return from the Broom store.

"But, who ever heard of a Parselmouth that doesn't have a pet snake? It's such a waste"

"I've told you, Draco. Half the school already think I'm some evil guy. My having a snake would only make things worse! Besides, I don't think we're even allowed pet snakes"

"You're just letting what Weasley said get to you. And I'm sure Snape would let you have a snake if you just would ask him"

Sighing, Harry took a long sip before replying.

"You might be right. Tell you what, I'll see how things go this year, and maybe end of the year I'll ask if I can bring one"

Draco gave a brilliant grin, sun gleaming off of his teeth. "You know I'm right. At least learn that spell Peter used. Imagine it! You're in a fight, and you just make some snakes and send them at your enemies"

Harry was forced to admit that would be really cool. And quite intimidating, for whoever was on the receiving end. Not too long later, a shadow fell over their table.

"Come, boys. Let's go get your books"

"Did you get them?" Draco half asked, half demanded. His father smiled at him.

"They will be delivered to Severus, at Hogwarts"

"Excellent" Draco whispered, eyes alight.

"Now, let's go. Just getting all those Lockhart books will prove to be a time-consuming nightmare"

* * *

Nightmare was definitely the operative word there. Harry and Draco followed Lucius as he strode towards the apparition point. The man was fuming to himself, muttering under his breath. Draco had been pretty embarrassed by his father's conduct, but Harry privately felt that he had gotten the short end of the stick in the bookstore.

' _That man is my teacher! How am I gonna survive this year!'_

Being called out in the middle of the store had been bad enough. Being forced to have his picture with that arrogant man had been worse. Lucius and Mr. Weasley's fight had been even worse. The crowning highlight of embarrassment had been the groundskeeper's intervention. After separating the two men, the oaf had the gall to smile at and greet Harry.

' _He probably doesn't even remember our conversation last year'_

And now, lugging their book bags, Draco and Harry followed the blonde man at a short, safe distance. He hadn't spoken since they left the shop, at least not to the two boys. Harry tried not to look at Draco, he didn't want the boy to be embarrassed further.

* * *

"Harry, are you prepared for your second year at Hogwarts?"

Harry settled comfortably in his chair. His discussions with Lucius in the man's study had become a regular thing.

' _I'm glad his black eye is gone though, it would make this way more awkward'_

"Yes, sir. I'm not particularly excited for our new teacher, though"

"Indeed. Please keep me informed on how his classes are. The truth is, this year he was the only applicant. Myself, and the rest of the school board are still looking for someone else to take over for him. To be honest, his books read like a fiction. If they are true though, he would be a most accomplished wizard"

' _I haven't read more than a few pages yet, but I'm pretty sure it's all lies'_

"Now, Harry. Why have you not bought yourself a snake? Draco is rather concerned, and I promised him I would discuss it with you"

' _Draco, sometimes I really want to punch you'_

"It's just—I don't want my reputation to be affected anymore. People have already been talking about me, and I don't want to give them something else to talk about"

"And so you will live your life based on the whims of others'?"

"No, sir. But I'm only going into my second year, and there are already rumors that I'm evil. I don't want to be ostracised"

"That may be the wise course. See that you do not waste your gift. It is a rare, and wonderful talent you have. I shall not push, but I believe that you may need to discuss your worries with someone"

"My-worries?"

"Yes. You worry far more than any child your age should about how public opinion views you. This is not automatically a bad thing, but if it is controlling your life, then it may serve to be"

Harry shifted uncomfortably.

' _I really don't like where this is going'_. But Lucius continued.

"This is not a nice topic, Harry. But I must ask you if you have ever spoken about your life in the orphanage?"

"I-I spoke to you about it, sir. And to Draco. And one or two of my friends"

Lucius waved his hand. "I don't mean that. I mean, have you ever discussed, in detail, what your life was like there? You mentioned, in passing, the torment that you suffered. Have you ever focused on that part?"

"N-No".

' _Change the subject. Don't think about it'_

"I believe, you should. It may be affecting you more than you know" He said ominously.

' _Nope. Not affecting me. I ended it, I killed them'_ and oh, how that still bit in his gut to think, ' _It's over. It's done with'_

"If you need, I will make myself available. Sometimes, just talking about such things can make you feel better"

' _NO. IT'S DONE'_

"Yes, sir," Harry said quietly.

"If you would rather you can always speak to Severus"

Harry just nodded.

' _Please, let this conversation just end'_

* * *

Lucius raised a glass of brandy.

"A toast," He said, cutting through the conversation around the table. Narcissa had been telling Draco how absolutely handsome he looked, while Harry sniggered away.

"A toast" He repeated, "To an exciting year at Hogwarts"

Harry and Draco dutifully lifted their glasses, even though there was nothing more than soda in them.

"I can't believe my baby is already in his second year," Narcissa said, hugging Draco close to her, setting Harry off on a new round of laughter.

' _Admit it, you're jealous of him'._

Not long later, Harry and Draco were in their beds, fast asleep. They were all ready to go back to Hogwarts the next day.

Lucius sat in his study, sipping a brandy. He raised it once again, as if in toast.

"To an exciting year at Hogwarts indeed. And to the end of Arthur Weasley's pitiful career"

 **AND SO THE YEAR WILL BEGIN. THIS WILL DEFINITELY BE AN EXCITING ONE.**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: NOT MINE**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME. YOUR CRITICISM HELPS ME IMPROVE**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter Two

The Hogwarts express took off with a loud blast from the horn. Harry was with his friends in a compartment. It was different being on the train as a second year. There were all these kids running around, trying awkwardly to make friends and start conversation. Harry and Draco even had to tell one of them that their compartment was already taken. The kid tried to complain, saying that there were so many empty seats, but he was quickly put to rights and left.

"No longer gonna be the youngest in the school" Harry smiled. It had been a bit galling, towards the end of the year, to still be seen as the children.

Blaise was busy telling them all about his trip to Italy. Apparently, his mother was as well connected there as in Britain. He had just finished talking about how he met the Italian Minister for Magic when their compartment door opened, and a young brown haired girl walked in.

"Daph, I've been looking for you all over!"

Daphne seemed a bit embarrassed by this.

"Tori, I'm with my friends. Go sit with your own friends"

The girl, Tori presumably, pouted.

"You're just gonna ignore me all year because I'm younger than you? That's so lame"

"I just don't want to have to be looking after my little sister all the time!" Daphne retorted.

"Fine" Daph's sister said, flouncing her hair, "at least introduce me to your friends, I'd like to know whose house I'll be in"

"Unless you're a Hufflepuff," Daphne said snipingly, causing the younger girl to shudder.

"Girls, girls. Relax. Tori, I'm Draco-"

"I know that. We have met before you know"

"Just reminding you," Draco said charmingly, "And this is Harry and Theo, and Blaise"

"Harry? You're Harry Potter?" She said, accusingly.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Oh. I thought you'd be taller" She seemed to be appraising him.

' _At least she's not fawning all over me'_

"Ok Tori," Daphne said, standing up with her face reddening, "Time to go"

"But-"

"Out!"

Daphne sat back down.

"That was a bit harsh on her," Theo said.

"Harsh? I'm just trying to make sure she doesn't follow me around all day and try to do everything I do! I have my own life, and my own friends and she should also"

"But it can't be so bad" Pansy started

"You don't have a younger sister, you don't know what it's like. She's cool enough, and I don't mind hanging out with her, but I don't want her to follow me around all day"

The compartment fell into silence for a bit.

Theo brought out a deck of cards and started trying to explain how to play Poker. Soon enough, a game was going. Harry stayed lost in thought.

' _What would it be like, having a younger sibling? Someone to follow me around and annoy me, but also someone who I could talk to. Someone who lived life with me'_

Harry thought about it for a bit and came to a conclusion.

' _Probably wouldn't be too different to what I have with Draco, and Daphne and Theo. Probably a similar thing'_

Not too long later, the train was pulling into the Hogsmeade station.

They followed the crowd of students in departing. Harry saw Daphne giving Tori a hug behind the crowd of first years. He walked past and caught a snatch of their conversation.

"You'll be fine. Before you know it, you'll be at our table"

He debated calling her and telling her to hurry up or all the good carriages would be taken, but he decided to give her some space.

* * *

It was a totally different experience being in the Great Hall before the sorting began. Harry and Draco took their usual seats in the middle of the table and passed the time looking at the terrified new kids and trying to guess who would end up in which of the houses.

"She looks like a brain. Bet you she'll be in Ravenclaw"

"That one looks like he's gonna fall over. Hufflepuff material if there ever was"

"That one's gonna join us"

"Which one? The boy on the left there?"

"Yeah. Look at the way he's looking at everyone. He's gonna be here"

Harry was about to say something to that when McGonagall walked back through the side door with the stool and hat. A few minutes later, Michael Aarons was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Always got to get the useless ones away first" Draco whispered to Harry.

"I'm sure you said the same thing last year"

"And it was just as true then as it is now"

Charles Braynsen became a Ravenclaw then.

"Why are you clapping?" Harry asked Draco.

"If they're not in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, I'm happy with where they went. Not as good as us, but Ravenclaws are ok"

Colin Creevey became a Gryffindor.

"Another one to fawn over Dumbledore"

Richard Emmerson joined their table not too long after that, the first Slytherin of the night.

"How much longer is this damn thing gonna go on for? I'm hungry" Theo stage-whispered, causing their whole side of the table to start laughing. Indeed, Theo's stomach could be heard even over the background noise of the Sorting.

"Sshhh!" Daphne hissed. "My sister's up now"

They watched as Tori walked up and sat under the Hat. Daphne seemed to be holding her breath. A few seconds later, the hat shouted out-

"SLYTHERIN!"

Harry heard Daphne letting out a relieved breath, as Astoria (he had to admit, Tori sounded far less pretentious) came towards their table.

Soon enough, Anton Harper joined Slytherin as well.

Harry's mind began to wonder. He tried to avoid looking at a fair amount of the main table. Lockhart seemed intent on catching Harry's eye, and he really didn't want that to happen.

' _If that man keeps trying to draw me in this year, I think I'll lose my mind'_

He was pleased to see that Snape seemed quite unhappy about being seated next to their new Defence teacher. Harry caught Snape sneering at the man as he looked the other way and immediately felt justified in how he had begun to think of the foppish wizard.

' _If he actually did do half the stuff he claimed, he's probably the greatest wizard in the world. If that's the case, why is Snape looking at him that way?'_

An explosion of clapping from his own table brought Harry back from his thoughts. He hurriedly joined in with everyone as they clapped the new Slytherin girl to their table. He leaned into Draco and whispered

"What's her name?"

"Morag Plunkett. I think she's Theo's cousin or something, he's mentioned her before"

And finally, the last student to be Sorted was sitting under the hat.

"I can't believe there's another Weasley here! That's five of them in school. Are their parents trying to make their own Quidditch team?"

Harry didn't have a reply to that. He imagined it must actually be quite nice, growing up with a large contingent of siblings around you. All the same, the Weasley's were ponces.

"Wouldn't it be hilarious?" Harry said, "If she came to us?"

Draco looked at him with growing horror. Harry rushed to explain.

"I mean, with all the shit her git of a brother talks about Slytherin, imagine if his sister was here!"

"Harry," Draco said weakly, "Some things are better not even thinking about"

Sure enough, after a few long minutes, the hat sent her to Gryffindor. Once the Hat was removed, Dumbledore stood at the podium. He smiled benevolently at the hall and spoke.

"Welcome. Just a word before the feast begins. Eat!"

Chuckling, the old wizard sat back down. And then Harry wasn't looking anywhere near him, because by then the food had arrived.

He went into his usual Hogwarts feast trance, eating a bit of everything and just avoiding the conversation flowing around him. Eventually, he surfaced to hear-

"I dare you. I'll give you ten Galleons"

"Maybe I would think about it for fifty"

"Fifty! You must be out your mind! Look, he's right there, just ask"

Harry pulled Draco away from the spectacle Theo and Blaise were making of themselves.

"What's Blaise trying to get him to do?" He asked

"To go ask the Bloody Baron about the blood and the chains. Why he wears them"

"Hah!" Harry called out to Theo, "Hey if you do it, I'll give you fifty galleons"

Theo looked like a deer caught in a pair of headlights.

"C'mon, he'll give you fifty, I'll give you twenty-five" Blaise wheedled, "Seventy-five Galleons for asking a simple question"

"What's the matter, Theo?" Draco asked now, "What can he do to you anyway?"

Theo looked positively stricken now. He glanced towards the other end of the table, where the Baron was sitting next to an uncomfortable Flint, looked back at the crowd staring expectantly at him. He gulped and muttered "Fine. I'll do it"

But as he was standing up, silence fell over the Great Hall. Harry looked up at the main table, only to see that Dumbledore had taken the podium again, and was about to speak. Theo settled back into his seat with a relieved expression.

"Perhaps, with full bellies, you shall all be more receptive to a few short, notices.

To all returning students, welcome back. To all new students, welcome.

Mr. Flich has informed me that there are new additions to the list of forbidden objects. These include Homing Slingshots, Pigeon Golems, and other such flying menaces. I assume everyone will rush to his office tomorrow to peruse the full three hundred or so items on the list"

"Quidditch try-outs will begin in approximately two weeks. If you wish to try to be on your House's team, please speak to your captain, head of house, or madam Hooch"

Draco winked at Harry at this.

' _We're already on'_ Harry thought, smirking back.

"Finally, please ensure that you do not enter the forbidden forest unless you are accompanied by a teacher or the groundskeeper" Hagrid gave a little wave at that. Harry tried to ignore the jet of bile that rose in his throat at the sight of the stupid man.

"Off to bed with all of you," Dumbledore said, giving a little clap, "Tomorrow, the year, and hopefully some education with it, begins!"

Harry got up quickly, ignoring the Prefect calling for the first years, he followed the rest of the Slytherin table towards their common-room, and beyond that, to sleep.

Harry lay in bed that night, listening to the lake lapping against his windows, and feeling intensely comfortable. Before he fell asleep, his last thoughts had been of how prepared he felt for the year.

Only time would show him how wrong he was.

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**


	4. Chapter 3

**AN: I OWN NOTHING**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME. I WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 3

Harry settled back into Hogwarts within a few days of the year starting again. It definitely took some readjusting, having to keep in mind which staircase went where, and which paintings could be ignored when they called for the students who walked past them. There were some new things to get used to though. Like the Gryffindor first-year who took way too much pleasure in taking photos of Harry. It had been kind of funny at first, but now the brat was just making himself into a constant annoyance. Harry had even found him waiting right outside the Slytherin common room one afternoon, and had been really ticked off. The boy's constant stream of questions was enough to make a saint lose his temper, and Harry was no saint.

"Just leave me alone! Get a life! For Merlin's sake, I can't walk at all without hearing your nonstop gibberish. Just shut up and go away!"

The boy had fled at that and had started taking his pictures from more of a distance. Theo had taken to waiting around corners and casting a bright flash as Harry turned it. Eventually, though, Harry had lashed out without thinking, and Theo was left in a petrificus totalus, that Harry almost decided not to lift. After that, he got no more surprises.

It was still very early in the year, but Harry was finding lessons to be easier than the previous year. He decided it was probably due to all the extra reading he had done. The practices he and Draco had been doing definitely hadn't hurt either. They had decided to postpone their extracurricular training until after Halloween. Draco had been adamant about wanting to settle into their new timetable, and besides- "There's gonna be Quidditch training as well. Matches too!"

He was right about that, Quidditch would probably keep them quite busy. Harry and Draco had made the team, of course. Marcus Flint, their captain, had almost choked when Draco told him about his father's donation, and the conditions attached to it. The burly fifth year would probably have agreed to let a mermaid onto his team, in exchange for seven Nimbus 2001's.

Their first practice would be the following week, but Harry had been introduced to his teammates. There was Marcus, the captain. He, Adrian Pucey and Harry would be the chasers. Lucian Bole and Peregrine Derrick were the beaters, Miles Bletchley the keeper, and Draco would be the seeker. Harry was pretty excited to see how they would all play together, he had watched the Slytherin team practicing and playing before, and it was an amazing thought to be part of that whirring, hypnotizing motion.

A thorn in Harry's side proved to be his new defense against the dark arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart. The man had already cornered Harry twice before their first class. It had started after the man had seen Colin taking Harr's picture, and he had decided to give Harry an impromptu lesson on how to make the most of fame without coming off as arrogant. The next conversation came after he had somehow learned that Harry was on the Slytherin Quidditch team, and he felt it necessary to offer Harry some pointers. Harry left both of these conversations in a severe state of confusion. He felt certain that if he actually tried some of the flying moves Lockhart had suggested he would fall off his broom. It was beyond bizarre. The man seemed to like nothing better than to talk about himself.

Any hopes Harry had that Lockhart would possibly prove to be a decent teacher, were dashed quite spectacularly by his first lesson. After a test, which was really nothing more than one hundred questions about the wonders and miracles of Gilderoy Lockhart, the man pulled a sheet off a cage to reveal a single Gnome. It was even more disappointing when he pulled the cage open, and the gnome did nothing more than turn over in its sleep.

Apparently, he had tried a similar stunt with the Gryffindor's, who had been his first class. Except with them, he let loose fifty Cornish Pixies and ran away leaving the students to deal with them.

"My father will remove that idiot from the school!" Draco said furiously, causing one or two of the girls to give him horrified looks.

That was the worst of it. Even some of the most intelligent and level-headed girls seemed to fall completely under his spell, and in their eyes, the man could do no wrong. Harry was unsurprised to see this behavior from Pansy, but Daphne and Tracey? It was so unlike them! But nothing he could say would convince them to look at the man as the fool he so clearly was. He could only hope that with time, they would come to see that Lockhart wasn't the great wizard he made himself out to be.

Other than Defence, and the abysmal boredom that was History, Harry found that he was quite enjoying all his classes. He was still holding his place in the top few students of the year and was settling back into a good rhythm of juggling library and social time. He found that he was mostly hanging out with Draco, Daphne, and Theo, with Blaise, Tracey, and Pansy flitting in and out of conversations and games. Crabbe and Goyle were a near constant presence, but Harry mostly just ignored them. When one of them spoke, it was quite the momentous occasion indeed, and everyone else would fall silent to listen to them. Admittedly, it usually wouldn't be something particularly relevant, but it happened so rarely that nobody even bothered to mock them about it.

* * *

Quidditch training began, and it was awesome. Their first training was slightly marred by the Gryffindor team arguing that the pitch was theirs, even though Flint had a signed note from Professor Snape saying that the Slytherins had booked it. It was worth it to have that whole situation though, just to see the looks on the Gryffindor's faces when Flint told them about Lucius' donation. Things had almost gotten ugly then, when Dean Thomas, the new Gryffindor Seeker, made some comment about Draco having to buy his way on onto the team. There had been a swishing as suddenly all the players from both teams were drawing wands to hands, and for a few minutes, it looked like a serious fight was going to break out. Harry had been extremely glad for all the extra time he had put into reading up jinxes and practicing them. Luckily, the crisis had been averted when the Gryffindor Captain, Wood, called off his team and decided to leave the Slytherins to the field. The Gryffindors left, shooting dirty looks behind them. The Weasley twins, in particular, had evil looks on their faces, and Harry was certain they were planning some vengeance. Lucian had shouted after them "Brave of you to know when you're beaten", and for a moment Wood had stopped. Harry fancied he could read the debate in the burly Gryffindor's mind before they carried on their walk of shame.

Playing Quidditch with an actual team was almost a totally different game to just playing with a few friends. The guys who had been on the team for a while already knew each other, and Harry was starting to get the feel of the plays the other chasers had gotten used to using. Their training mostly focused on them learning to play as one unit.

There was much more than just that though. They had exercises and training drills to run. They had to fly around, dodging the Bludgers that Lucian and Peregrine knocked furiously towards them for what felt like hours. The chasers would fly around, throwing quaffles to each other from different positions and at different speeds. They practiced trying to score and taking penalty shots. And all the while the Golden Snitch was flying around, tiny wings buzzing furiously, as Draco dove and spun around, searching for it. Every time he caught it, it would be released again. By the time the team had finished their first practice, they were all sore from sitting on brooms for almost four hours and getting pummelled by bludgers, and Draco had caught the snitch three times.

* * *

Marcus gave them all a short pep talk in the locker room after the practice.

"We've got an amazing team, amazing brooms and we all work well together. Screw this up and I'll eat your fucking hearts"

They left the locker room shortly after that, having showered and changed. As they were about to enter the Castle, the Weasley twins got their revenge.

They were walking together, joking and talking, and the next thing balloons were exploding on their heads, spraying them with foul smelling water.

"Good thing you guys have a field to yourselves" Came a call from above

"Yeah, I don't think anyone would be able to share with them, phew"

The team ran, arms over their heads as they weaved and dodged the barrage.

"I think it's the stuff from inside Dungbombs," Adrian said, choking the words out through retching noises.

"I'm-going-to-kill-those-fucking-twats" Marcus growled, as they went through the entrance hall.

The stench was indescribable, and what was worse, is that it seemed to grow with every passing moment. It wasn't like a usual bad smell that you got used to. No, this was setting deeper into Harry's nostrils and choking him. He managed to hold back from throwing up though.

Draco didn't.

One second he was standing still, eyes closed and taking deep breaths, and the next he was bent over with a torrent of vomit coming out.

"Shh!" Miles said harshly. "Listen!"

Everyone fell silent. Dimly, they could hear footsteps and a voice coming nearer.

"We'll find them, dear one. They won't be able to set off those foul smells anymore when I'm done with them, no they won't"

"Filch" Draco gasped, looking much paler than usual. Then he took off running.

There was a moment of stillness, and then the whole team had started running. Harry was standing at the back, and he ran too, looking nervously behind him. The stink causing his stomach to roil, he didn't really look where he was stepping.

And he slipped.

And that's how Filch came to find Harry lying in a puddle of vomit on the floor, stinking of Dungbombs.

"Defiling my halls! Do you know what it takes to get this stink out of the walls? IT SETTLES IN!"

Harry tried not to look at the enraged caretaker.

"It wasn't me" He mumbled, trying not to add his own stomach contents to the floor.

"WASN'T YOU! FOUND AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME!"

Harry cringed back from the bulging eyes that were now only a few inches away from his own. He wanted to wipe the spittle he had just been sprayed with off of his face. ' _It'll probably just piss him off more'_

"I swear, it wasn't me, it was the Weasley twins"

When Filch next spoke, it was in a low voice, trembling with rage that was far scarier than his screaming.

"That's exactly what everyone says. I wasn't befouling the Castle, it was the Weasley's. You are caught red-handed, at the scene of the crime. Detention"

"But—"

"Detention. Tomorrow night. You will be in the trophy room at ten to polish the trophies. No magic" He ended with malice in his voice.

And that's when Harry lost control of his stomach and vomited on Filch's legs.

* * *

It had taken a full week to get the horrific stink out of his skin. He still caught wisps of it every so often and would feel bile rising, but it was gone. After he told the rest of the team what had happened with Filch, they had convinced him to go to Snape. Reluctantly, Harry had told the whole story to Snape. The upshot of it was that the Weasley's lost one hundred points for Gryffindor, and each had a month's worth of detentions, with Snape.

The downside was that Filch was furious about how Harry had so 'disrespected' him, that he would not let Harry off his detention, even at Snape's insistence.

Snape had been furious about it but told Harry he would have to do the detention. "The man has his rights as a member of staff to assign detention. He should not have that right, but he does"

"Can't something be done about that?"

"The headmaster believes very strongly that if people are shown respect, they function better and work harder. He will not strip the caretaker of rights he believes the fool should have"

' _It always comes back to Dumbledore being stupid'_

So Harry had done the detention. The actual work wasn't so bad, although his wrists and fingers were extremely sore by the time Filch judged he had finished polishing, at around midnight. It was just much more a humiliating experience, being forced to work like a house-elf, as punishment for something that wasn't really his fault. It also left him quite exhausted the next day.

He had sat down with the rest of the team, and begun planning their revenge on the Weasley's. They decided to wait till after Christmas break, because-

"By then, they'll think we forgot about. Think we just decided that we were even after all their detentions and points. But we won't have forgotten, will we?" Miles said, in a low voice.

The team, seated in armchairs around the fireplace in their common room nodded or muttered "no". Marcus just sat hunched over, with a murderous expression on his face. Usually being the Quidditch captain was a glamorous position, which gave the one holding it a place of respect within the house. At the moment, however, the team as a whole was being studiously avoided by their housemates. Even after having showered three times at least by that point, the smell remained.

* * *

Time marched onwards, and before they knew it, it was Halloween. Once again, the Castle had been festooned with "spooky" decorations, and once again they were walking down to the Great Hall for an incredible holiday feast.

"Think there'll be a troll this year?" Blaise asked nonchalantly. It took Harry a few seconds to remember what the hell he was talking about.

"Na. My money's on a vampire. Fits more into the theme of the time you know?"

The joke fell flat. It seemed they didn't really know. Harry had forgotten how much of things like Halloween he had picked up from the muggle world.

Like the previous year, the Great Hall was richly decorated for the season. The skeletons were singing, the pumpkins floating with candles within. Bats flying around. Harry noticed more spiders crawling around than he had the previous year. ' _In fact, I don't think there were any spiders last year'_

Unlike the previous year though, the feast was not interrupted by news of a rampaging troll. There was no vampire either. There was delicious pumpkin soup, succulent roast beef and boiled chicken, and a whole host of dessert.

There was also the sounds of a piano, seeming to emanate from the very walls, to which the skeletons sang along. They sang hauntingly, but it was difficult to make out the words. At one point, Harry thought they were saying something about killing and blood, but he dismissed it when no one else had heard that.

Shortly afterward, they were leaving the hall, with full stomachs and heavy heads. The press of students meant that the one, usual shortcut to the Slytherin dungeons was impossible to take, and so the Slytherins went with everyone else.

' _First, we go up some steps, then we go down more'_ Harry thought drowsily to himself. He was shocked out of reverie by a startled shriek.

There was a cat hanging on the wall, outside of the bathroom.

It was Mrs. Norris. The lamplight reflected in the puddle below her, casting strange shadows up onto her stiff body.

Below her, was written this enigmatic message:

" _ **THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED, ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE"**_

"Enemies of the heir beware" Harry looked over to Draco, who was shouting out into the hushed silence. He had a flushed look on his face and was staring right at the Weasley twins as he spoke. "You'll be next, mudbloods and traitors"

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	5. Interlude I

**AN: I OWN NONE OF THIS**

 **PLEASE, REVIEW AND P.M. ME YOUR THOUGHTS.**

 **ENJOY**

Interlude I—Reactions

 _Gryffindor common room_

"Ron, you're being ridiculous!"

"Am I really, Hermione? Really?"

"YES! What do you think, Neville?"

Neville looked pretty upset at being put on the spot. The crowd in the common room who had been watching the argument were now all staring at him, and he did not like it.

"Um, I don't really know" He muttered.

"Listen, Hermione. Heir of Slytherin. What was Slytherin so famous for? Being a Parselmouth. Who's a Parselmouth at Hogwarts right now? Oh right, it's the guy who had a detention with Filch two weeks ago. This same guy's best friend, at the scene of the attack, threatens Mudbloods and blood traitors, and you really think I'm being ridiculous when I say I think he's the Heir?"

"Well, firstly he was at the feast with all of us and-"

"Were you watching him? Do you know he was there the whole time?"

"Don't interrupt me, Ronald! I listened while you spoke, you can at least show me the same courtesy!" Hermione's voice rose as she said this, and red blotches were beginning to appear on her cheeks.

"As I was saying, he was at the feast. Also, most of the school has a grudge against Filch. Just last week you were complaining about Mrs. Norris. Maybe you're the heir!"

Ron's ears started to redden as he angrily responded "I'm not a Parselmouth. _He_ is!"

"That's true, but he's also twelve years old! If no one throughout history has ever found the Chamber of Secrets, why do you think a twelve-year-old would be able to? If Dumbledore's never been able to-"

Ron had had a stumped look in his eyes at the beginning of Hermione's sentence, but by the end, his eyes lit up and he interrupted her again.

"Maybe only the Heir can find it?"

Hermione stopped dead, and her eyes took on a faraway look.

"Maybe," she said slowly, "But I still don't think it's likely that a twelve-year-old would know how to find it. Besides, didn't you say his father was in Gryffindor?"

"That's right" Neville chimed in, "My parents were friends with them"

Ron was quiet for a few minutes.

"Still, he's a Parselmouth" he finally said, a bit weakly.

"Yes. But still, he's never been anti-muggles"

"But Malfoy is, and they're always together"

"Tell you what Ron, if this thing keeps going on, and it still points to him, we'll figure it out then"

Ron shook his head. "Fine, but I'm telling you now he's involved"

* * *

 _Hufflepuff common room_

Gabriel Truman and Candice Lister, the seventh year prefects stood in front of the assembled Hufflepuffs. There was a feeling of tension and fear in the air.

"Guys, we don't want anyone freaking out or anything. This will most probably turn out to be nothing more than a Halloween prank in bad taste, and whoever did it will be caught and punished in no time" Gabriel began, exuding confidence and warmth. Candice took over at this point. She had a more stern voice, but it was modulated with kindness, and the younger students began to calm down, just from her tone.

"Nevertheless, we want to be careful. After speaking with Professor Sprout, we think it's fair to ask that everyone keeps in pairs for the next few weeks. Until things become clearer, we don't want to take any chances. Like Gabriel said, it will probably turn out to be nothing serious. Until we know that for sure though, we're going to do whatever we can to keep safe"

"It shouldn't be too difficult. Just pick a buddy who takes the same classes as you, and when you're going from class to class, make sure you're together. Be careful about curfew, we're going to be enforcing it far stricter. If someone isn't accounted for within a few minutes of curfew or class, we will be looking for them. If we all keep to these rules, nothing will go wrong"

The students immediately started speaking to another, making pairs who would be looking after one another. The younger years all seemed to be much less worried, but the calm hadn't spread to the older ones as much.

* * *

 _Ravenclaw common room_

"The existence of the Chamber of Secrets has never been proven!"

"Surely current matters should act of proof?"

"It could just as much be someone using an old legend to cause havoc"

"You honestly believe that anyone would risk suspension or expulsion simply to cause havoc?"

"Fabius, have you never met the Weasley twins?"

"Yes I have, but you clearly didn't notice their expressions tonight! Besides, they're still in so much trouble from the last stunt they pulled, I don't think they would risk something like this now. That's not even mentioning how this type of prank doesn't really fall into their idiom"

"I didn't mean it was actually them, I was merely using them as an example to point out that yes, sometimes, students here do stupid things for the fun of it"

"Your problem, Emily, is that you refuse to think of any other possibility once you have your mind made. Do you not agree, that it is at least possible that Salazar Slytherin made a hidden room in this castle, and that he kept a dangerous beast in it?"

A new voice sliced through the argument. Slightly dreamy, this voice didn't contain any of the heat of those previously speaking.

"Slytherin definitely hid a room. After all, Helga Hufflepuff did, so why wouldn't he?"

Both of the fourth year students turned to look at the first year who had so naively chosen to disturb them.

"No one cares about your stupid theories, Luna," Emily said, with a scorn laden tone, "What, you probably assume he hid Blibbering Humdingers in there as well, don't you?"

"No. They wouldn't be too happy with taking orders or with causing serious trouble. A Heliopath though, that could be"

The girl trailed off and wandered away. Emily and Fabius looked at each other, the wind quite taken out of the sails of their argument.

"Maybe we should wait until Professor Flitwick tells us more?" Fabius said cautiously.

"Agreed" Emily responded, with a flick of her hair.

* * *

 _Slytherin common room_

Unlike that of the other houses, the atmosphere in the Slytherin common room was totally relaxed. In fact, it was rather upbeat.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Harry angrily hissed at Draco. "You don't think it made you look just a teensy bit suspicious, your whole 'enemies of the Heir beware' thing?"

Draco actually looked quite amused by this tirade. When he spoke, it came in quite a condescending manner.

"Harry, everyone can think whatever they want. I'm not the Heir, and I think Father would react quite strongly if I was accused of such a thing"

"I'm not talking about you getting a detention, I'm talking about someone attacking you. You know, like what happened to me last year!"

"I'm a Malfoy. No-one would dare-"

"Really? No-one? None of the Gryffindors, who don't care who your father is? How could you just be so stupid?"

"I wasn't thinking, ok?" Draco said angrily, near shouting. "It just sounded cool, and I thought if the Chamber really has been opened, then it's time for those fools to learn their places-"

"You didn't think. Draco, people probably already think I'm the Heir, your little act is just going to cement that in their minds. Because you didn't think"

Draco turned and stormed out of the room, and into their bedroom. Harry watched him go, face stoic for a moment before it crumpled into a rictus of anguish and fear.

"Fuck" he muttered to himself.

* * *

 _Ministry of Magic, floor 1, Boardroom 5  
_

Lucius Malfoy left the meeting of the Hogwarts Governors with a spring in his step. It had been most enlightening. Emergency meetings were rare enough, and an emergency meeting that had the honor of hosting the Headmaster and the Minister for Magic himself was near unheard of.

Dumbledore had informed them all that it was next to impossible that this attack was a simple prank. Lucius had been extremely glad for his practice in controlling his expression, he had wanted nothing more than to burst out laughing in the old man's face. Still, he had played his part well, in pushing for Aurors not to be sent to Hogwarts unless the situation would worsen.

' _And worsen it shall. Perhaps this may prove to be the chance to unseat Dumbledore'_. He smiled to himself at the thought.

' _And when the Aurors do finally investigate, who will be found guilty other than our own muggle-loving fools' daughter. And what, I wonder, will be with his silly laws then'  
_

He nodded to the security wizard as he left the ministry, and prepared to apparate home.

' _I must write to Draco. He must keep quiet during all this. I don't want unnecessary attention being paid to him at this point'  
_

* * *

 _The Headmasters office, Hogwarts_

Severus Snape looked at the people crowding Dumbledore's office. Heads of House, Poppy, Kettleburn. Everyone who had been summoned to this meeting was there, except Dumbledore.

' _Can he come already? I'm eagerly anticipating the bashing of the house under my care to begin'_

To be fair, Severus knew that Slytherin did deserve part of its bad reputation. After all, most of the Death Eaters who had been in Hogwarts had been Slytherins. He knew, that if you had to take ten students who believed in blood purity and who held similar, non-politically correct opinions, eight of them would be Slytherins. Nevertheless, the accusations still rankled him. Did they not realize, that by alienating the Slytherins they pushed them towards people who held those views? That when the only people who accepted you wanted you to hurt others, you would gladly do that? Do it, and enjoy every second of it.

He wasn't a stupid man though, and that is why he had done some investigating. Every one of his charges had been accounted for at the feast. He had made particularly sure to get a chance to look into Harry's eyes before coming to this meeting. It had hurt, as it always did to see Lily's eyes in James' face, but it had confirmed something for him. Harry had nothing to do with the opening of the Chamber of Secrets, and he had no idea who did.

He marveled at the current state of affairs. There he was, preparing himself to defend James Potter's son against accusations that could easily lead to expulsion. The thing was, the boy was the type of student a teacher dreamed of. No trouble, with a desire to learn and grow.

' _And looking at his eyes, I can almost pretend Lily is alive for an instant'_

The problem with proving the innocence of all his Slytherins was that now he was left with no possible leads. It would make sense that a Slytherin was responsible, but from what he knew so far, none of them were.

The last time the Chamber had been opened, it had been done by a man Severus once called master.

' _Could Dumbledore be right? Could the Dark Lord somehow still live?'_

As always happened when he thought of his former leader, Severus felt a mixture of emotions and desires churning within him.

He missed it, missed giving in to his rage and hate and desire, and simply doing whatever he wanted and felt like. He missed the feeling of absolute power he had when taking a life. He missed the tingling pleasure that had ran through his body in waves as he held the Cruciatus on some poor soul. He missed the jealous looks his companions had given him as his Lord complimented him. But as all those thoughts went through his mind, three simple words ran into them from the other direction and stopped them dead in their tracks.

' _He killed Lily'_

He had finally begun the process of moving on from Lily. He thought he was nearly ready to try to start a relationship again. But moving on did not mean forgetting, and it surely did not mean forgiving. Some things could never be forgiven.

A flash of golden fire lit up the room, and Dumbledore's sudden appearance broke Severus' train of thought. He rolled his eyes at the sight of the most powerful living wizard holding a phoenix's tail.

"Excellent" Dumbledore said, taking his seat, "Everyone's here"

"After meeting with the Governor's and the Minister, we have decided, that if this situation becomes much worse, Aurors will be summoned to Hogwarts"

The room was silent to this news. It wasn't any more, or less, than what they had been expecting.

"In the meanwhile, we shall begin our investigation. I will recap what we know so far, to ensure that we are all on the same page"

Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to talk.

"The tests that Minerva, Filius, Severus, Poppy and I have conducted show no signs of spell damage whatsoever. Furthermore, Severus believes there is no sign of potion use, and I concur. I have written to Horace Slughorn, as well as the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers for second opinions, but I believe they will find as we have"

"So you believe it is truly the Chamber of Secrets?" Filius said, voice lower than his usual squeak.

Dumbledore merely nodded, looking serious.

"Well then", Minerva said looking at Severus, "We at least have some indication of where the perpetrator is"

' _There it is. I thought higher of you Minerva'_

"I have proof of the innocence of my house members, Minerva"

"Even the Parselmouth?" Silvanus Kettleburn said.

"Especially him," Severus said icily, "I was not so remiss in my duties as to not investigate such an obvious suspect"

"Well, I wish you would let me borrow him. If he could translate for me, I could learn so much and-"

"Silvanus, please," Dumbledore said, raising a hand to cut through the man's talk. "Will you share with us the outcome of your investigation, please?"

"Ah, yes. Hagrid, Grubbly-Plank and I examined the cat. I believe I have narrowed down the list of creatures that could have possibly caused this to a mere three"

"A mere three. Imagine that" Severus said

"Once we removed all the other possible creatures and hybrids that could do it, yes, three is a fantastic amount to have to work through"

"Silvanus, please just tell us your conclusions," Dumbledore said tiredly.

"The culprit is either a Gorgon, a Catoblepas, or a Basilisk. If it is a basilisk, the only way the cat even survived is that she saw its gaze in a reflection, and not directly. Nevertheless, I believe a basilisk to be the most likely cause"

"Why?"

"Multiple reasons. The association between Salazar Slytherin and snakes, for one. The fact that basilisks are so long-lived, particularly if it has been hibernating. The fact that the animal, basilisk or not, was clearly being controlled, and Gorgons and Catoblepas' do not lend themselves well to being anyone's tool. At least with a basilisk, a Parselmouth would be able to control it. And lastly, and most damningly, Hagrid's roosters were killed last week. He suspected foxes, but it points towards a basilisk"

"How certain are you of Harry's innocence, Severus?" Dumbledore asked, looking sickened.

"One hundred percent certain. I investigated myself" He said, looking Dumbledore in the eyes. He knew Dumbledore would understand what method he had used to investigate and indeed, Dumbledore closed his eyes and nodded, looking slightly grateful.

"Silvanus. Get us more roosters. I am not going to merely leave it up to that. I know of charms that could circumvent the threat of the cock's crow, and we must assume that whoever is controlling this basilisk does as well"

"Pomona. How long until the mandrakes are ready for the draught to be prepared?"

"Hard to say, exactly. Depends on how long they spend in the different stages. Could be anything from six to nine months, maybe even ten"

"We will have to guard them. I'll set a rotation. Poppy, you have everything you would need, in case we have to deal with other cases?"

Poppy shuddered but spoke in a clear voice "Of course. The hospital wing is very well stocked"

"Good. Everyone, we must look into this, and find it. We have a near impossible task before us. We must find the Chamber of Secrets. Remember how it ended, last time it was opened"

 **NEXT UPDATE WILL EITHER BE AT THE END OF NEXT WEEK OR THE WEEK AFTER THAT.  
**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. SERIOUSLY, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT Y'ALL ARE THINKING**


	6. Chapter 4

**AN: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME.**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter Four

Hogwarts had become Hell. There was a feeling in the air, of fear and anticipation. Everywhere Harry looked, students were walking around in groups, hunched together. Students from other house, at least. The Slytherins were walking with heads held high, and with pride evident. What was truly bad about all this, were the reactions Harry received. It was clear that most of the student body had decided that he, as a Parselmouth in Slytherin, was the Heir.

Within his house, it wasn't too bad. Oh, people seemed to be walking on eggshells around him, and he was being treated with a sort of fearful respect. He kind of enjoyed that part. It was when he left the common room that it became a problem. Groups that were walking together would bunch up tighter when they saw him, people muttered to each other and shot him dark looks as he passed them. Worse, he didn't even have Draco to cheer him up. Since their argument a few nights earlier, Draco had either been avoiding him or acting very coldly towards him.

' _Honestly, he can be such a baby sometimes'_

Draco's mood had definitely been further exacerbated by the owl he had received from his father the next day. It had basically told him much the same thing Harry had complained about his doing, that he should keep his head down and be quiet about the Heir.

In some ways, this was even worse than the orphanage. Growing up in that place, he hadn't known anything better. Here though, he had gotten used to having friends, to being around people, to not being ostracized and hated. Even with what he had overheard Weasley saying, it still was loads better than how he had grown up. Now though, he was regarded with fear. Few of his friends were still as happy to be seen with him. Draco wouldn't mind, but he was pissed off with Harry. Daphne was cool, but she was often with her sister or with Tracey. Theo could be cool, but he was spending a lot of time with Blaise. Harry was left as he had spent most of his life.

Alone.

And alone, the thoughts and memories began to press upon him again.

In his mind's eye, he saw himself being pushed into the mud on a rainy day. He saw himself being surrounded by a group of boys, led by Joseph of course, as they yelled at him and called him names. He saw the Matron pointedly ignoring his black eye and the bruises on his cheeks. He saw Mr. Roberts dropping his trousers, telling him what a disgusting boy he was, how he only had one use…

By this point, his mind would invariably turn away from what was to come, and he would hear the voices in his mind again. The voices telling him how he was a murderer, how he had killed them, how he didn't deserve to live and have a good life. He would try to counter, thinking of what Professor Snape, and Lucius, and Draco had said, but every time he used this defense it was losing efficiency. He spent a lot of time sitting by himself, doing nothing but thinking, wearing a blank face. He spaced out in conversations, and would only be drawn back in once he was called by name. His friends had begun giving him odd looks. Draco and Daphne were worrying about him. Draco was too stubborn to say anything, but Daphne tried. Harry would simply brush her off with a patently fake smile and an equally false "I'm ok".

In short, Harry Potter was edging closer and closer to a total breakdown.

There was one thing that acted as a saving grace, and that was Quidditch. Their first game was coming up on Saturday, and practice had actually caused Draco to warm back up to Harry. In fact, Draco had even asked Harry if they could start their spell practices again, once they were done with the game. Harry agreed, but they decided to ask Snape first. Especially with everything that had been going on, they wanted to be extra careful. The game would be against Gryffindor, and Harry was quite looking forward to putting them back in their place. What the Weasley's had done to the team as a whole, and to him personally, bit against him deep inside his chest. Harry had begun feeling more human again, with the memories and voices receding, by the time Saturday morning dawned upon him.

He woke up, trembling with anticipation and nerves. Today would be his first actual Quidditch game, and the whole school would be watching. He was glad he wasn't the seeker, he did not want that much pressure on him. Being one of three chasers was more than enough stress.

Down in the Great Hall for some breakfast, Harry found he wasn't the only one suffering from nerves. Draco ate with a swagger but looked a bit greenish. The rest of the team seemed to be ok and encouraged him and Draco to eat as much as they could handle.

"You don't want to find yourself hungry in the middle of a game. It could go on for a while, and flying really does take it out of you" Peregrine had said, appearing confident, but the little twitch under his eye said more about his actual state of mind than words could.

Harry forced himself to finish his toast and bacon. He was just contemplating having another piece when Flint called the team. They rose from the table, and left the Hall, to cheers from the Slytherins and jeers and catcalls from the Gryffindors.

After changing into their Quidditch robes, Flint stood up, and face stony, gave a pep talk.

"We have better brooms than them. We have better players than them. We've practiced at least as much as them. And I don't know about any of you, but I can still smell Dungbombs on me every now and then"

There were nods from the team at this. Harry noticed everyone was looking very serious now. His heart began to race, as Flint continued, driving himself into a frenzy.

"They fucked with us, and now we have a chance to start showing them why they were wrong. Are we gonna let it just slip away?"

"No"

"Are we gonna let them win?"

"NO"

"Are we gonna every fucking thing we can, to beat them?"

"YES!"

Flint's eyes alight, he spoke in a hoarse, deep voice, no longer shouting at this point.

"We're not just going to beat them. We're going to crush them. We're going to show those wankers why they shouldn't ever fuck with us, and what happens when they do. We're going to make them terrified to ever play against us. They should already be afraid, but they might be slow learners. Let's go give them a lesson boys!"

They strode out of the locker room and onto the pitch, and into a wall of sound. The stands were packed, the sunlight bright, and the grass green.

Flint and Wood shook hands, and from the pained look on Wood's face, Flint had just crushed his fist.

"Mount up" Madam Hooch called, "When I blow my whistle you may take off. At the second blow, I will release the balls, and the game will officially begin"

There was a loud Paarp, and fourteen players launched into the air, Miles, and Wood heading straight for their respective goals. Harry, Flint, and Adrian spread out as they had planned, while Peregrine and Lucian flew around, and Draco flew straight up, to watch for the Snitch.

A moment later, the whistle sounded, and a mass of balls flew into the air. Harry saw a golden speck for an instant before the Snitch flew off.

"And they're off. Slytherin vs Gryffindor, what a way to start off the season, with this time-old rivalry. We'll just have to hope that the Slytherin team don't have their 'Heir' looking-"

"LEE! Comment on the game only!"

Harry tried to block the commentator's voice out but found it far more difficult than Lucian had made it sound the other day.

' _It really is ridiculous that a Gryffindor is commenting on their own games'_

He rolled, avoiding a bludgers sent his way by one of the Weasleys.

"OH! THAT'S A NASTY HIT TO FRED, OR IS IT GEORGE? WEASLEY, SENT BY LUCIAN BOLE OF SLYTHERIN"

"Nice one" Harry called to Lucian, as he flew past him, heading up to where Flint and Adrian were passing the Quaffle to one another as they neared the Gryffindor goalposts. One of the Weasleys was aiming towards them, but Peregrine headed him off, and he had to dive.

And then Harry had entered the fray, and Adrian saw him there as one of the Gryffindor chasers flew towards him.

"AND IT'S PUCEY TO POTTER. LOOKS LIKE POTTERS LINING UP TO SHOOT. COME ONE OLIVER, STOP IT. NOO!"

Harry flew off, feeling absolutely on top of the world. He could hear his name being roared out from the Slytherin stands. The wind flew through his hair, blowing it back, giving him a most pleasant feeling, and he had just scored the first goal of the season!

"AND IT'S 10-0 TO SLYTHERIN, BUT KATIE BELL SEEMS TO BE TRYING TO SET THE RIGHT"

Harry looked back towards his own goals, and indeed, one of the Gryffindor chasers was flying towards it.

' _Come on Miles'_

But Peregrine got there first. With no bludgers at hand, he waved his bat as if to hit Bell in her head. She shrieked, loudly enough that Harry heard her over the crowd, and went into a sharp dive, dropping the quaffles as she did.

"FOUL! COME ON REF! THAT'S A DISGUSTING AND BLATANT-"

"LEE!"

"AND MADAM HOOCH HAS AWARDED A FOUL OVER THAT OBVIOUSLY BLATANT ACT OF SABOTAGE. KATIE'S LINING UP, SHES SHOOTING, AND…DAMNIT! BLETCHLEY STILL 10-0 TO SLYTHERIN"

It was amazing. Their brooms so easily outstripped the Gryffindors, that whenever the Gryffindors got close to their goal, one of the players could come in and intercept, even from the other side of the pitch. It was almost obscene, how easily they were crushing them.

After a feverish hour of playing, Wood called a time-out.

The current score was 190-70.

The Slytherins just took the chance to relax, but Wood seemed to be getting really worked up as he spoke to his team. Minutes later, they were back in the air. Whatever Wood sad, it seemed to have affected his team greatly. Soon enough, the score was 190-110.

The game carried on, and the play became rougher and rougher. It seemed every few minutes Gryffindor was awarded another penalty.

Miles was a fantastic keeper, but even he couldn't save every penalty sent his way. Not too long late, the score was 200-150.

' _Come on Draco, catch the damned thing already. We're getting tired, and Gryffindors pulling back'_

"LOOK AT HIM GO! COME ON DEAN, GET IT BEFORE THAT SLIMY-"

McGonagall pulled the microphone away before Lee could finish the sentence. Harry didn't even notice this, he was too busy watching the Gryffindor seeker with growing horror. He had taken off and was flying, pushing his broom as much as he could, as he went towards the Snitch, which was simply hovering in mid-air on the opposite end of the pitch. Draco had been shadowing Dean, and he must have been distracted because he only shot forwards a few seconds after the Gryffindor had.

Still, the better broom was showing its stuff. Slowly, inch by inch, he gained on Dean. Eventually, they were neck and neck. The snitch shot downwards, and they both dived after it.

They were too far away for Harry to clearly make out what happened, but the next thing Draco was flying up, arm raised triumphantly.

"MALFOY CATCHES THE SNITCH" Disappointment evident in his voice, the commentator forged onwards, "SLYTHERIN WINS. 350-150"

The team all surged together and piled on Draco in an enormous hug. There was huge cheering going on from the Slytherin side, and as Harry helped lift Draco into the air, he thought this was the happiest he had ever been.

"Party in the common room tonight!" Miles was shouting.

"These young ones didn't too bad, eh," Flint said, looking at Harry approvingly.

* * *

The party was in full swing. Someone had spoken to the house elves, and there was tons of food. More than that though, some of the sixth years had snuck out to Hogsmeade and had returned with butterbeer, candy, and a few bottles of dragonbrandy. Pansy's wireless was playing loud, raucous music, and conversations were starting and stopping all over, as the students mingled with each other and then moved away. The team was absolutely swamped with admirers, and most of the conversation centered about the game.

Pansy was fawning over Draco, who was standing in the middle of a circle, looking extremely chuffed, while Marcus and Miles seemed to be having a competition to see who could down the most shots of brandy the quickest.

Harry was in the middle of talking about one of his goals with Quentin McGuire, a seventh year who had tried out for chaser, when a loud series of bangs from behind him broke the conversation.

He turned around and saw Professor Snape standing at the entrance to the Common Room, looking very, very serious.

Snape raised his wand, and a few more bangs erupted from it. Slowly, conversation died down completely, as the occupants of the room turned to face their head of house.

Snape looked around the room, scanning every face there.

"Where is Jason?" He asked, voice low.

One of the seventh year boys raised his hands, and said, a little nervously, "He uh, went to bed a few minutes ago sir. Something about wanting to be up early tomorrow"

"Fetch him. I only wish to speak to you all as one"

A few minutes later, the seventh year returned, with a thoroughly confused looking Jason in tow, his pajamas rumpled.

"There was an attack tonight" Snape began. Immediately, an excited murmur ran around the room.

"Silence"

The room fell quiet once again.

"George Weasley, Nicole Roes, and our Poltergeist have been petrified"

The assembly started at this and began talking again. Snape's voice cut through them like a whip, all cold and controlled fury.

"The next person to speak without permission will face my displeasure".

"For many years, Slytherin house has had a particularly unkind reputation. This only worsened as a result of many of our alumni's actions during the last wizarding war. I, and many others have been working for the last ten years on repairing this."

' _What?'_

"Current events, are serving to push us right back to where we began ten years ago. I do not believe any of you to be guilty, but others will not think as I do. When I began my tenure as head of this house, Slytherin students were receiving detentions and losing points at a rate higher than the other houses combined. This was not because of a commensurate higher amount of troublemaking, but it was due to prejudice and fear that was held against Slytherin. I do not wish to return to that type of state of affairs. Do any of you?"

Harry looked around the room, as everyone shook their heads. Marcus seemed to be having trouble standing still, the brandy was obviously causing him to sway in place. Crabbe had a look of deep concentration as if he was trying to figure out what Snape was saying. But Harry could see the worry on some of the faces, even though the most common expression was indifference.

"Whoever is behind the attacks, is obviously making it look as if someone from our very own house is causing them. As such, you all will disabuse any who could believe this foolish notion. And so, there will no longer be any discussion of your beliefs regarding blood purity outside of this common room. I do not care if you believe muggles must be eradicated, but if any of you so much as hint to a dislike of them in the school as a whole, I will personally punish you. Further, none of you will discuss these attacks outside of this common room. Particularly if you wish to express admiration for the so-called 'heir'."

There were startled gasps, and Harry caught an indignant expression spreading across Draco's face, among many others.

"This is not a game. Until the situation is resolved, I will be holding you to a higher standard than anyone else in this school. The curfew will be strictly upheld. I will be performing surprise inspections, to ensure this is so."

"You will appear to be perfect students. No rule breaking will be permitted, whatsoever. If you receive a detention, you will receive an additional one from me"

"That's not fair! Its-"

"Life is not fair, Mr. Jockron. As a seventh year who will soon be entering the wider world, it is time you learned this fact"

"Finally, you will travel in groups. You may indeed, not be in danger from the 'heir', but you may be in danger from students wishing revenge on Slytherin as a whole, or from being wrongfully suspected. If you are with others, at least two others at a time, these dangers are highly lowered."

Snape looked around the crowd, nodded once and said. "Now, get to bed"

With that, he turned and left the room, robes billowing behind him.

The conversation immediately began, and Harry looked around the room, at the crowd of excited, afraid, and indignant faces.

' _George Weasley. Oh fuck. I'm totally gonna get blamed for this, aren't I?'_

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	7. Interlude II

**AN: I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER.**

 **THERE WILL BE SOME GORE AND SOME TORTURE TOWARDS THE END OF THIS CHAPTER.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME.**

 **ENJOY**

Interlude II—Reactions II.

 _Gryffindor Common Room_

The room was silent, nearly empty. The Weasley's were being given space. Percy had gone off to bed, not saying anything, while Fred and Ginny sat, silent on armchairs near the fire. Ginny had her hands over her ears and was staring into space, as she slowly rocked back and forth. She would sit in that position for a while, and then would lift her knees up to her chest, and clutch them tightly.

Fred looked murderous, face set, knuckles white as he clenched onto the armrests.

Ron, meanwhile, was haranguing Hermione, the only non-Weasley, other than Neville in the room.

"I told you. I told you it was him, but you said-"

"I know Ron. I think you were right" Hermione said, tearfully

"You think? After George, you still only think I was right?"

"I meant, I need a bit more proof to be one hundred percent certain. But I really think you're right. And I think I have a way to get that proof"

Ron stopped his pacing and looked at her, the firelight catching his face menacingly.

"What do you mean?"

"Harry would probably not mind talking about what he's doing in his dorm, to his fellow Slytherins. We just need to be a part of that"

"Amazing plan Hermione. Really brilliant. We'll just walk into the Slytherin common room, if we can even get in, and pretend like we belong there. Hey, Harry did you try to kill my brother, and he'll just-"

"Obviously not. We'll use Polyjuice potion"

Fred looked up sharply at this.

"And what is Polyjuice potion anyway?" Ron asked.

"It lets you turn into someone else. For an hour at least" Fred said softly, eyes glinting.

"Yeah," Hermione said, looking at Fred.

He shrugged. "We- we were planning on using it once. Try turn into cats and scare Mrs. Norris. You can't use it for animals though. You could get stuck like that forever. We didn't want to risk it" He ended off, morosely.

Ron was beginning to understand now.

"So we make this Polyjuice, and we can turn into Slytherins. Then we sneak in and get him to talk about it. When will it be ready?"

"I'm not sure. I've been reading up on it a little, but I need a book from the restricted section to find out for sure. I think it will be done by Christmas"

"I'll get you the book," Fred said, "What is it?"

"Moste potent potions. I think we need some ingredients that are in Snape's private stores also"

"Let me be in charge of that"

"By the end of Christmas break, we should be able to prove that Harry Potter is the Heir of Slytherin"

* * *

 _Headmaster's office  
_

As the members of the teaching staff stood to leave, Albus said "Severus, Minerva. Please stay a few minutes"

' _Ah, Slytherin and Gryffindor. I wonder where this will go'_

Snape and McGonagall took their seats again.

Albus steepled his hands and looked at them over his fingers.

"I am concerned, that this attack will cause tensions between Gryffindor and Slytherin students to rise. What can you, as their respective heads of house, to prevent this?"

Snape spoke first.

"I have already addressed the Slytherins. They will not antagonize the Gryffindors or any other students for that matter"

McGonagall continued smoothly the instant Snape stopped.

"I spoke to the Gryffindors as a whole. They know, that any vigilante action will be very, very strictly dealt with"

"Good, good" Albus said, as the portraits behind him began to whisper to each other.

"Albus" McGonagall spoke hesitantly, "Why are you so adamant that we not tell the students that it is a basilisk? Surely that would help them be safer?"

' _Yes Albus, why? McGonagall is too honest, she can't see what you're doing. But I want to hear you say it out loud'_

Albus sighed, reaching over to scratch Fawkes as he spoke.

"At the moment, it is our only advantage. We can't say with certainty why they are doing this, we don't know who it is, but we know what they are using to do it. They don't know that we are aware it is a basilisk. If we tell the students, whoever it is will know, and we will lose our greatest help. Additionally, the panic our announcement would cause would undoubtedly lead to the closing of Hogwarts"

"Would that really be so bad? At least that way none of the children would be harmed" Minerva said, voice rising slightly

"We would lose any possibility of catching the perpetrator"

' _There it is'_

"And so you use the students as bait?" Minerva said, lifting her hand to her mouth, horrified.

"Minerva, we must catch them! It is more than necessary!"

"Why? What do you know Albus? What makes this so important that you would allow lives to be on the line?"

"I do not believe their goal is wholesale slaughter. If it was, they could simply bring the basilisk into the Great Hall during mealtime. The staff table is directly in line with the doors, and those most capable of dealing with a threat would be dead in instants"

"So what do you believe their goal to be?" Snape asked.

"I am not yet certain. It would seem to be one of three. Either to incite fear and panic or to cause war to break out between the houses. Or, to frame a student"

"Who?" Minerva asked, but Snape thought he knew where Dumbledore was going with this.

"Harry Potter. Does it not strike you as odd, that the student attacked last night was one who had recently had an altercation with Harry? That the cat attacked first, belonged to a member of staff who had, unfairly most believe, assigned Harry detention?"

"Yes, but Severus has cleared Harry," McGonagall said, slight confusion evident.

' _Minerva, you are a most brilliant witch, but your talents do not lie in thinking in crooked lines'_

"Exactly. Furthermore, even if it had been Harry, would he really be so foolish? To point an arrow directly at himself? No, I believe the attacks have been planned to point suspicion at Harry"

"Why would anyone desire that?" Snape said quietly.

Albus closed his eyes for a few minutes. The office was silent, broken only by the susurrus created by the portraits and Albus' many rare instruments.

"The average witch or wizard, even if they have heard of the Chamber of Secrets, believe it to be a myth," Dumbledore said, opening his piercing eyes. "Those who are more aware, know that it was opened fifty years, resulting in the death of one Myrtle Warren. As a result of this, Rubeus Hagrid was caught with an Acromantula and expelled. Even though it was a ridiculous thought that a half-giant Gryffindor student had been behind the attacks, particularly since Acromantula cannot cause the injuries and death that had been, he was expelled, and the attacks stopped."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and looked at the portraits arranged behind him for a second before continuing.

"Those who have been Headmaster here, or otherwise have access to the Secret History of Hogwarts, know that the Chamber was opened twice within two hundred years of Salazar Slytherin's departure from Hogwarts. These openings resulted in a combined thirty-one deaths, including the perpetrators in both cases. Both times, they were direct descendants of Salazar himself"

' _As always, a question must be answered with a rambling story'_

"The Slytherin line gradually faded away, until the only family that could trace their lineage back to them was the Gaunt family. In the early 1900's, the last members of the Gaunt family lived in a hovel near the Muggle village of Little Hangleton. This family consisted of Marvolo Gaunt, his son Morfin, and his daughter Merope. Years later, Morfin was convicted of the murder of the wealthy, landowning muggle family of the village. He claimed to be angry over his sister having had eloped with their son, Tom Riddle, who later returned home, wife and child, not with him"

Snape looked at McGonagall. He was quite unsure where exactly this would all lead, but from the nervous expression on McGonagall's face, she seemed to know.

"Fifty-Five years ago, I visited a muggle orphanage to introduce a young wizard to the world of magic. The matron told me that this child's mother had died after childbirth, living just long enough to bestow a name upon him. Tom for his father, Marvolo for his grandfather, with the last name of Riddle. This child, I was surprised to discover, was a Parselmouth. And so, the last descendant of Salazar Slytherin returned to Hogwarts."

' _Wait. The last descendant... That means'_

"In the fifth year of the boy who would later take the name Lord Voldemort, the Chamber was opened. Coincidentally, my predecessor, Headmaster Dippet, informed Tom that Hogwarts would possibly close as a result of Myrtle's death. That same night, Tom caught Hagrid with an acromantula, causing his expulsion, and the closing of the case"

"You believe the Dark Lord to be behind this?" Snape asked, half incredulously, half terrified.

Dumbledore looked weary beyond even his prestigious years.

"I have suspicions. He could be possessing someone, using even an untrained first year as his tool. If his goal is to cause suspicion to fall upon the Slytherins, that would make sense. It would have the result of driving them closer to his cause. If his desire is to frame Harry, that could end with Harry's expulsion, leaving him closer to Voldemort's" Albus ignored the flinches this resulted in and carried on speaking "Grips, and thus closer to his revenge"

' _It could be. The Dark Lord was obsessed with avoiding death. It could definitely be that he survived somehow. If Potter did, what's to stop him from having?'_

"Why do you think he is doing this now?" Minerva asked, shaking slightly

"I believe Quirrel may have brought him back from Eastern Europe. According to my sources, he had been hiding in Albania. Quirinus entered Albania in his travels and was definitely acting oddly afterward. After Quirinus returned, there were attempts to steal the Stone from dear Nicholas. It was kept safe, and where is Quirrel now? Owls addressed to his return with their letters unread. My best attempts at tracking him have left me with nothing. Even Fawkes" Albus stroked the sleeping Phoenix, "Has been unable to track him down"

The office fell silent until Minerva broke it.

"What do we do Albus?"

"We watch, and wait. The Ministry's special task force should be formed and trained by the end of Christmas break. In the meantime, we continue trying to get Myrtle's ghost to cooperate. If possible Severus, I want you to ask Harry to let you know if he hears any snakes talking. Maybe he should even ask the portraits of snakes, few though they are, about the basilisk"

"You want me to tell him about the basilisk?" Snape asked.

' _We want a twelve-year-old child to save us?'  
_

"It would be foolish for us not to enlist his help. Impress upon him the need to keep it secret. If whoever is behind this realizes that Harry is trying to find it, he may be in danger"

Snape nodded curtly.

"Very well. Please, keep me updated on anything that occurs in your houses. No matter how small it may seem, I want to know it"

* * *

 _Lord Voldemort's safe house Innsmouth_

Something caught his eye as he flew through the mind of the man sitting before him.

He was an Auror, and Voldemort had been most unimpressed at how easy it had been to catch the man. If the standards of their elite force had truly fallen so far, his return was practically prepared for him already.

As he flew through Robert's mind though, a scrap of conversation pulled him in. He heard the words 'Chamber of Secrets' mentioned, as well as 'Basilisk' and he abandoned his previous search and dove into that memory. It was from that very day. He watched with growing rage as the auror was invited to join a task force to help hunt down a basilisk that had been let loose upon Hogwarts. His blood began to boil, and he saw the memory through a veil of red and black as a senior ministry official told a group of Aurors about the attacks happening at Hogwarts, and how the 'Heir of Slytherin' was behind them.

He pulled out of the man's mind, tearing his thoughts to shreds in his rage. He barely thought as he cast a familiar green light at the man, and even the ecstasy of the Avada Kedavra was not enough to lessen his rage.

' _LUCIUS! YOU SENT MY HORCRUX AWAY!'_

He was biting his upper lip hard enough for blood to begin to drip down his chin. Breathing in short shallow spurts, he waved his wand in the direction of the corpse before him, and its chest _exploded_ outwards.

The shattered ribs poked through it's ravaged tatters of flesh as Lord Voldemort was drenched in blood.

"LUCIUS!" He roared a feral screech.

His rage continued to build.

A vial of rare potion ingredients exploded on the shelf behind him, adding its bitter smell to the stench of viscera in the room.

A black flame launched out of his wand, and he merely stared at it for a second before taking a deep breath and causing it to recede.

' _I must visit Lucius. But if I visit him in my current state I may kill him, and he could prove useful if alive. But he sent one of my Horcruxes to Hogwarts, where Dumbledore could find it. Time is of the essence. I must visit him. I must not kill him unless he pushes me to do so'_

And oh, how he wanted Lucius to buy his own death. Images of Lucius Malfoy perishing in horrific pain flitted through his mind, and slowly Lord Voldemort breathed deeply, calming himself, slowing his heartbeat.

The fact that Lucius was not aware that it was a Horcrux was immaterial. The fact that Lucius believed him dead did not assuage his guilt. Lucius would be punished. He may even be alive at the end of it.

' _Or perhaps, a more-fitting punishment could be found'_

A terrible smile spread across Voldemort's face as the idea took form.

He turned to clean the mess Lucius had caused him to make and to prepare to pay a visit to an old friend.

* * *

 _Malfoy Manor_

Dinner had been superb. The new elf was far better than Dobby had been.

Lucius suppressed a shudder at the thought of his old elf. He had put it out of its misery of course. A house-elf like that would never get a job. Besides, it knew far too much of his personal business to be allowed to go away freely.

Narcissa smiled at him. He hadn't told her exactly that he was behind the attacks at Hogwarts, but she knew nevertheless. It was an old agreement of theirs. He wouldn't tell her the things that would get him in trouble directly, but he would give her enough hints and clues that she would be able to work it out. He hadn't bothered to hide the joy he was feeling when he told her how one of Arthur Weasley's brood had been attacked. He had thought nothing of telling her that when the Aurors got down to the bottom of this whole business, it would certainly reflect very badly on Arthur Weasley.

"Narcissa dear, I must spend some time in my study before coming to bed tonight"

She smiled at him wickedly. "Of course darling"

He walked to his study, deep in thought.

Opened the door and took a few steps in.

' _There's someone here'_

He stopped dead in his tracks. The fire was lit, with his armchair facing it. He could dimly see an outline of a figure in his throne-like chair, but that was it.

The door closed behind him without his doing anything.

Pulling his wand out in one swift movement, he spoke to the figure.

"Whoever you are, I give you one chance to leave my home willingly"

A high pitched chuckle rose from the figure, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up.

"You dare threaten me?"

Lucius was paralyzed with shock.

' _That voice. It can't be. No'_

"Who are you?" He managed to say, voice shaking.

"You don't recognize the voice of your master? You swore to me Lucius, you swore to be my servant for life"

A sudden, fiery pain roared through Lucius' arm.

His left arm.

He dropped to his knees, trembling as the armchair slowly swung around.

"My-My-My lord. H-How is this possible?"

Red eyes glinted at him in the gloom.

"I told you many times Lucius. I would not be felled by death. But we must leave that all aside for now. I came here for a reason" He said, rising sinuously from the chair, and with snake-like movements walking towards a bookshelf.

Lucius watched this with growing terror.

' _It truly is him. He's going to that bookshelf. I am going to die'_

"I entrusted you with an old diary of mine Lucius," the Dark Lord said, pulling out a book and causing the whole bookshelf to swing aside. Behind it lay an entirely unremarkable stretch of wall.

Unremarkable that is, until the Dark lord tapped it with his wand and it vanished, leaving behind a floating safe.

"I distinctly remember you placing it in this safe, Lucius. A safe you said none but you knew of"

"M-My lord I-"

Voldemort continued, ignoring Lucius' attempts at speech. He stroked the safe, and tapped it with his wand, causing it to open.

"Imagine my surprise Lucius, when I come and the safe is empty."

"P-Please, my Lord"

"Where is it?" He said softly, hissing the words out.

' _This is how I meet my death'_

"It is at-at Hogwarts, my Lord"

"At Hogwarts," Voldemort said, stressing the words out. The rictus of a grin on his face was the most terrifying thing Lucius had ever faced.

"Why is it at Hogwarts?"

"I-I-I"

"Hard to speak, Lucius? Perhaps this will help. Crucio!"

Pain. Every inch, every nerve, pain. It will never end. The Dark Lord was going to keep him under the Cruciatus until he died, screaming as he tore his own skin to shreds.

And then it was over. Long fingers gripped his chin and forced his head upwards until he was staring into his master's eyes.

And memories were flooding his mind, as he saw his entire train of thought that led to him planting the diary on Ginny Weasley. His mind was being ripped to shreds, and he could feel the Dark Lord's rage burning inside his head.

After an eternity, it ended.

"Crucio"

And Lucius was screaming, not a scrap of his dignity or self-control left. He was crying, begging for it to end, begging for him to be killed and for the torment to be over.

"Lucius. You have failed me greatly. But you will redeem yourself. You will return the diary to me"

Shaking, Lucius pulled himself to his knees once again.

"Please my Lord, I will do whatever you wish. I have ever been-"

"You are not forgiven. Your punishment is still to come"

' _Merlin, no'_

"You have put something most precious to me in grave danger," the Dark Lord said, cruel glee shining in his voice. "I have often heard the most precious thing one can have is a child. Would you not agree, Lucius?"

' _Draco. Merlin, no. Let this be a nightmare, let me wake up please'_

Something stung him.

"I said, would you not agree, Lucius?"

"Yes my Lord"

"Well then. I will offer Draco the chance to serve me. If he agrees, he will live. If not, he will die, followed by your wife, and then yourself. I will make sure they are aware they are dying as a result of your failure. Oh, and I will perform legilemency on him. If you have coerced him into making the choice, you will make me most angry."

Lucius was silent, his heart pounding in his chest. At some point, he had soiled himself, and the smell was beginning to permeate the room.

"Is that not fair, Lucius?"

"It is, my Lord"

"Good. You have until tomorrow to figure out how you will return my diary to me and to present the plan to me. If it is not satisfactory I will remove a finger and a toe."

"Yes my Lord"

"I will be staying here, in your home"

"It will be an honor my lord"

"And now Lucius, you will tell me everything you know about your former associates. But first, tell me about Harry Potter"

 **SHIT IS STARTING TO RAMP UP**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW**


	8. Chapter 5

**AN: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS**

 **THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS. PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING!**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 5

Harry was in Hell.

He had thought he was being ostracized after Mrs. Norris' petrification. Now he looked back at those days with envy of how good he had it. Everyone outside his house was treating him like shit. Even walking around in groups didn't stop the hisses and comments from coming towards him. The Weasley's were the worst. The other twin would stare at him menacingly, and once or twice drew his fingers across his throat while staring at Harry. Thankfully, he didn't share any classes with him, but Ron was being enough of a prat in Potions to more than make up for his brother's absence. The little sister as well had taken to bursting into tears when she passed Harry in the hallways. It was _fucking_ annoying.

He felt like a pariah. The Slytherins weren't mistreating him, but next to none of them were jumping at the chance to spend any time with him either. Being ferried from class to class by the teachers was bad enough, it was just made worse when the groups going in the opposite direction would almost always have some snide comment to make towards him and his group. A few times wands were drawn, but so far no one had been brave or stupid enough to actually start flinging spells around.

' _It's only a matter of time'_ Harry thought glumly.

Even Quidditch hadn't been enough to cheer him up. Even their spectacular defeat of Hufflepuff's team hadn't made him feel better. In fact, it made him feel worse. It turned out that the girl who had been attacked along with the Weasley, Nicole Roes, had been one of the Puff's chasers. Her replacement was particularly bad. The comments that situation inspired were bad enough to make Harry throw up.

He had wanted nothing more than to get away from the castle for a while, and thus had been looking forward to Christmas break even more than he had last year.

Unfortunately, Draco received some bad news from his father. Apparently, Draco had told Harry, looking extremely put out, the whole Chamber of Secrets situation had his father being extremely busy due to his role with the board of governors, and Draco wouldn't be able to go home for Christmas. Lucius had promised to visit over the break, but it wasn't what Harry needed. What Harry needed, was to just get away from the stares and mutters and jeers. To get away from the Weasley's and their angry glares, to get away from Ernie Macmillan and the rest of the stupid Hufflepuffs. To get away from the Ravenclaws who had decided he was beyond guilty. To even get away from the strange mixture of fear and respect his own house members were giving him. He had even had to tell Draco that he wasn't the Heir! He had thought Draco at least would have slightly more sense than that, but apparently, he needed to be reminded of it.

Oddly enough, many of his year mates would be staying as well. Nott's father had told him he would be too busy, and Crabbe and Goyle simply signed up to stay without explaining their reasoning. Pansy would be staying as well, although Daphne and Astoria were heading home for the break. Tracey would be there, but she usually was.

The problem was, that Harry didn't want to be around _anyone_ right now. He had even snapped at Daphne the other day, and that was simply after she tried to cheer him up.

' _Won't be too long till my friends have abandoned me also'_

Snape had given Harry an opportunity to do something that would maybe remove some of the stigma from him. He had told Harry, in strict confidence, that the monster attacking people was a Basilisk. Harry had been pretty damn terrified but had agreed to speak to the snake portraits around and try to get information from them. It had been very nearly a colossal waste of time. The snakes around were far too terrified of "the king" as they referred to the basilisk to actually help Harry and an impatiently waiting Snape at all. They had confirmed that it was a basilisk, something which seemed to horrify and please his head of house at the same time. Worst of all, no one could even know about his attempts to try track down whoever was controlling the basilisk. Snape had been very clear that telling anyone at all, could put Harry in serious danger. If the Heir knew Harry was trying to stop them, they might choose him as their next target.

As the days grew closer and closer towards Christmas, Harry's bleak mood grew. It came to a head one morning about a week and a half before the break would begin, when Harry woke up, looked at his green and silver hangings above him, and thought ' _I can't do it'_.

He simply stayed in bed.

He listened to the lake, loving the gentle waves against his window.

He stared upwards, mind blank except for the one thought turning over and over in his head.

' _I can't do it'_

He heard as his roommates' snores and sleepy grunts changed into the sounds of his room waking, and he stayed in bed, not moving a muscle.

He barely blinked.

When Draco came to get him, he just lay there.

"Harry? Come on, you know we have to go in groups" He had said with a petulant tone, eyeing his friend's state with a slight sneer.

"I'm not coming," Harry said, voice dead, empty.

"Uh, Harry? That means a group of us is gonna have to come back here" Draco stifled a yawn, "After breakfast and get you for class, and-"

"I'm not coming"

Slight concern crossed Draco's face before annoyance blotted it out.

"What do you mean, you're not coming? Why not?"

"I can't do it"

"What the hell are you talking about? Why are you just lying there like a-"

"I can't do it, Draco. I can't face them. I'm not coming"

When Draco next spoke, he sounded worried. It didn't suit him.

"Harry? Who can't you face?"

Harry turned his head slightly away. Draco still saw a single tear glistening as it rode down Harry's cheek.

"Anyone. I can't do it"

"I'm getting Snape"

After Draco left, the room was empty. Harry found it quite peaceful, really. He could just lie there. He didn't have to worry about being looked at. He didn't have to worry about hearing any voices. He just had to lie down and let his mind do nothing. Just stare at the green and silver above him, until it seemed to fill up the whole world. Until-

"Mr. Potter?"

' _I should stand up'_ Harry realized. ' _Snape's here. I can't just stay lying on my bed'_

But for some reason, he couldn't gather up the energy to move his legs. He didn't even move his head, just carried on letting the green fill up his world.

He couldn't even work up the energy to be angry with Draco for tattling.

"Yes, sir" He finally said.

"I am told you feel unable to leave your bed," Snape said, sounding… cautious.

"Yes, sir"

He heard Snape sit down. ' _I hope he's got a chair. I wouldn't sit on Theo's bed if you paid me. I've heard him when he thinks the rest of us are sleeping'._ He stifled a hysterical giggle.

"May I ask, why you feel this way?"

Harry thought for a little bit. He didn't really want to think about anything. He didn't want to talk about his feelings. He just wanted to ignore them until they went away. He knew that he was just hiding from the reality and that he needed some actual help, but he just couldn't face it. He couldn't face talking about how everyone was watching him, afraid of him, flinching from him. How he heard the voices. How he caught glimpses of kids from the orphanage out of the corner from his eyes, and when he looked again they were gone. How-

"Harry?"

' _Whoah. Total zone out there. He sounds worried'_

"I can't face them. They're all watching me. They run away when I come near. They hate me. They're terrified of me. And there's nothing I can do about that because they've all decided that I'm the Heir of Slytherin and that I'm trying to kill them all"

There was silence from the other side of the room.

"Why does that bother you? The way others view you?" came Snape's reply.

"Because- Because I-" Harry stopped. His stammering reminding him of Quirrell. This whole situation was reminding of Quirrell, in fact.

"Because they treat me like a freak! They make me think I'm an outsider, and I just want to be normal!" Harry suddenly blurted.

"The students here are calling you a freak?" Snape said dangerously.

"No! But that's how they make me feel! Like every insult, I ever heard in the orphanage was true! I can't even be accepted by my own people. And it just puts me back in the same place I was! I thought I left that- that fucking place when the Malfoys said I could spend the summers with them, but I haven't! In my mind, I'm still there! I hear the same mockery in my head when these stupid children treat me like that. They don't fucking know anything, what it's like to suffer, they don't know shit about what I've been through, and all they're doing is putting me through it again! And it's worse because I thought I was free. But I'm not free, I'll never be free" By the end of this, Harry was shaking, tears streaming down his red face like a river. He hadn't known that was coming.

"Only you can set yourself free," Snape said quietly.

"How?" Harry's voice cracked on the word.

"Do you know why they treat you so badly Harry? It is because they are afraid of you-"

"I know that" Harry muttered.

"They are afraid of you" Snape continued, ignoring the interruption, "Because you are better than them. The muggles knew this, even if they did not know any specifics on how or why you were greater, but they knew it. The students here are much the same. They are jealous of your fame, heedless to the fact that you never asked for it. They see you being at the top of your classes, and they know you are more intelligent. They see your ability in charms and transfiguration, and they know they are less. They are jealous of you, Harry"

"I don't want it. Why can't they just do their own thing? Why must I be the center of their attention?"

"You never wanted it, but you have been pushed into the center. Before you knew about the magical world, most of the students here had heard tales of you. There is nothing you can do other than accept the fact that you will be their focus"

Harry stayed silent. He moved his head, locking eyes with his Head of House as the man went on.

"You must accept this. They are afraid of you because they know you are more powerful than them. Their fear makes them stupid. They leap to conclusions which suit them, which allow them to live out the fairy tale they believe the world to be. Because, as you said, they do not know about suffering or pain. And so, they cannot conceive of the damage their stares and words cause to you".

Snape paused for a minute, eyes far away.

"They know that they will go on to live small, average lives. Achieving nothing of significance. And they see someone who has the ability to change the world if he only wishes, and like moths to a flame, they are drawn. Drawn, and afraid, because the fire is hot. And yet, they want to have some relation to the flame, but it simply is on a separate plane of existence. And so they mock you, Harry. Because they are afraid of you. Afraid of the potential they see, even subconsciously, within you."

That didn't sound quite so bad, Harry had to admit. A hell of a lot better than them being terrified of him for being a Parselmouth.

"You really think that's true?" Harry said, not wanting to sound too doubtful, but not really succeeding in that.

Snape gave him a wry look. "You think you are the only one?" He asked scornfully.

Harry opened his mouth then closed it.

' _Wait, is he saying that he was like this?'_

"Remember this, Harry. You are better than them. They will die after a boring life, leaving nothing of substance. You will excel at whatever you do. They are like flies, and you can happily ignore their buzzing. You are better than them"

Snape stood up, vanishing his chair.

"Take the day off. Don't leave the common room unless you are in company, but get out of bed. Moping about like a Hufflepuff will only make you feel worse. Read. Write. Practice your spells. And tomorrow, you will be able to function. I will be sending a house-elf to bring you food. If I found out you were still in bed when it comes, I will be most displeased"

"Thank you, sir" Harry whispered, wiping his face. As Snape left the room he swung his legs off of his bed.

He really did need to take a piss anyways.

 **SHORTER CHAPTER THAN USUAL, BUT IT WORKED SO WHATEVS.**

 **AT SOME POINT, YOU WILL SEE SOME OF SNAPE'S MEMORIES OF THIS CONVERSATION. I WAS ORIGINALLY GOING TO DO IT FROM HIS P.O.V, BUT IT JUST WOULDN'T WORK.**

 **AND NO, HIS ADVICE IS NOT VERY HEALTHY. SNAPE ISNT EXACTLY A PARAGON OF EMOTIONAL HEALTH.**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**


	9. Chapter 6

**AN: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME. IT REALLY MEANS A LOT AND IS A BIG PUSH TO WRITE MORE AND FASTER.**

 **ENJOY**

By the time Christmas break came around, Harry's melancholy mood had totally lifted. The conversation with Snape in his dorm room had really helped. Whenever he saw people cringing away from him, or jeering at him, he would just remind himself of what Snape had said.

' _You are better than them'_.

It really served to help. Harry found himself simply smirking at those who tried to insult him. Admittedly, that probably only served to cement the idea that he was the Heir in their heads, but he also found that he couldn't really care.

* * *

Christmas time at Hogwarts was a really interesting experience. The dinner was amazing. Harry had never seen so much food in his life, not even at all the previous Hogwarts feasts. And the decorations were another level entirely. Enormous trees, festooned with crazy decorations like giant icicles and what seemed to be live fairies.

The Great Hall's set up as well was different. The house tables had been moved from their usual places and were all set up in front of the main table. Harry overheard the prefect Weasley telling one a first year how it was set up differently every year depending how many people stayed.

' _Of course, the Weasley's stayed. Their parents were probably overjoyed to get a break from them'_

Something fell on Harry's shoulder, and he looked up, gasping. Snow was falling from the roof! Crumbling the snow through his fingers, Harry realized it was dry. And warm too. ' _So much can be done with magic'_

Harry had never had so much fun at a dinner before. Magical Christmas crackers were all over the tables, and when he and Draco had pulled one, it had exploded like a bomb, showering them with an insane amount of confetti and chocolate in small packages.

* * *

Nevertheless, Harry still wished he had been able to go to the Malfoy's for the break. Especially with them not being able to wonder the castle just as they wished. They were planning to do some exploring as a group, but Harry would have liked to hang out in the library a bit. Even with his invisibility cloak, he didn't dare to wander off on his own. It just wouldn't be smart. In fact, especially with his invisibility cloak. A terrible image popped into Harry's mind, of him being petrified (he couldn't quite bring himself to think of himself dead) underneath his cloak, and nobody finding him for days because of it.

' _Do petrified people even need to eat and drink?'_

Unfortunately, none of his friends really wanted to spend time in the library over break. They had given in to his wishes though and accompanied him so he could at least pick out some books to take back to the dorm.

Harry and Draco managed to convince Theo to come practice some hexes and jinxes with them. They decided to start their practicing again, at least over the break.

It was a lot more fun with a third person, but also made it more difficult. Harry and Draco had been practicing on their own for a year now, and they were far, far above Theo in their dueling skills. Harry actually felt quite embarrassed with how easily he managed to disarm Theo, and wasn't surprised when Theo said he wouldn't be joining them in the future.

Harry decided to learn how to conjure a snake and started practicing. It made him feel quite weird to vanish it at the end though. One minute he's talking to it, the next he's made it disappear.

Draco was still insistent on trying to learn Parseltongue, even though they were making no progress on that front at all. Harry was willing to swear that Draco made the exact same hissing sounds that he himself had, but it still wasn't Parseltongue. His only explanation was that it must be a magical language and not one that could simply be learned. Draco disagreed. Strenuously.

Crabbe and Goyle spent most of their time in the Great Hall, where there were cakes and other snacks at all times. Luckily for them, they made friends with a third year, Eric Graham, who was very similar. He was actually meant to be a fourth year but had repeated his third. At least with Eric, they had someone to accompany them back from the Hall after they had finished pigging out.

As the first week of the break was coming to a close, Draco was getting very excited for his father's visit, which would be on Sunday. The next day, in fact. Apparently, he also needed to meet with Dumbledore, as he wanted to discuss some matters with him before the Aurors arrived.

Snape had informed the Slytherins who had stayed for the break that Aurors would be stationed in the school. A special task force, they were said to be very serious, and not to be joked around with. They were going to be arriving just before break ended.

So that Saturday found Harry and Draco just sitting in the common room, playing a game of chess in front of the roaring fire. Harry was stroking the head of a snake he had conjured a few minutes earlier as he contemplated the next move.

The common room door surged open, and Theo stormed in, followed by the hulking figures of Crabbe, Goyle, and Eric.

"These damned idiots!" He huffed. "They make me wait over an hour for them to finish eating to walk back here with me!"

Draco laughed, Harry not really paying attention.

' _If I take his rook, I might be able to take his queen next. But then I'm in danger from his knight'_

"You think it's funny?" Theo raged. "By the time we leave, I need to piss like a pregnant woman. So I make them wait for me while I go to the loo, and I come back, and guess what? They've wandered off!"

Draco roared with laughter.

"It's not fucking funny! If one of the teachers had seen me alone, I would have gotten at least a week's worth of detentions"

"Sorry, Theo. I'm sorry" Draco said, wiping his eyes, looking not the least bit apologetic.

Theo muttered something and stormed up to his room. Crabbe, Goyle, and Eric sat around them, and Harry took Draco's rook.

' _Ok, so he takes my bishop, then I can take his knight, but he'll probably take the pawn'_

Harry noticed Crabbe studying the board, looking very interested.

"You're definitely better at chess when you've got a snake with you. You should have bought one at the beginning of the year like I said"

"Yes, Draco," Harry said, with as much sarcasm as he could. "I'm sure the idiots who think I'm attacking everyone wouldn't take that as a sign of my guilt then"

Draco frowned slightly. "I still don't understand why you care what they think. Snape told you that Dumbledore knows it isn't you"

Harry heaved a sigh. "Because I'm sick and tired of people looking at me in fear of things I didn't do. I had more than enough of that growing up with those fucking muggles" he injected more hate into that word than he would have thought possible, "And I don't want to have to deal with it anymore. They need to all grow the hell up, and actually, think"

"So you don't know who it is?" Crabbe blurted out.

Harry looked at him strangely. "How many times are we going to have this stupid conversation? None of us have any idea who it is. It can't be anyone from Slytherin, because we were all here when Weasley got petrified"

"Check," Draco said smugly. Harry went back to studying the board, muttering to himself.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes. Had Harry and Draco been paying attention, they would have noticed the looks being shared by Crabbe, Goyle, and Eric. Eventually, Eric broke the silence.

"Do you think there will be more attacks?"

"Not really. I mean, with there being Aurors around, it doesn't seem likely. I hope they at least catch whoever it is, so those damn Weasley's will stop staring at me like I'm a murderer" Harry said absentmindedly, about to make a move.

"When are the Aurors coming?" Crabbe demanded, red in the face.

"Are you taking stupidity potion? I mean, jeez, Snape told us all yesterday!"

"Forgot. Sorry, Draco" Crabbe rumbled.

Eric stood up. "My stomach's hurting. I want to go to Madam Pomfrey."

"Don't go alone, idiot. Snape will get us all in trouble" Harry said, before saying to Draco, "Checkmate"

"What, no!"

Crabbe and Goyle stood up. "We'll go with he-him," One of them said, with neither of the chess-players paying any attention to them whatsoever.

* * *

 _Gryffindor common room, that evening_

"Just admit it, Ron! We were wrong!" Hermione shouted, near tears. The conversation with the Slytherins had really shaken her up. To be honest, she had started being shaken up well before entering their common room. The process of changing was rather painful, and it was extremely unnerving to become a boy. She idly wondered how guys managed walking. It was far more uncomfortable for them.

And then the conversation itself. From what she had heard, it sounded like Harry Potter had been abused. She suppressed a shudder at the thought of the amount of venom he had put into the word "muggles". She had never heard anyone talk with such anger. And to think that they had just been bringing up bad memories by suspecting him! Her insides roiled with guilt.

"OK! You want to rub it in? We were wrong!" Ron shouted back, ears dangerously red.

"How do you know he wasn't just acting?" Fred asked.

"You didn't see him. There's no way he was acting" Hermione replied.

"If he's good enough to fool Dumbledore, you really think he isn't good enough to fool you three?" Fred retorted, heating up.

Hermione threw up her hands. "What do you want me to say, Fred? Everything he said points to him being innocent. And the way he said it as well"

"I wish I'd been there. If there was something, I'd have picked up on it"

"It's not our fault you weren't! Honestly, who gets detention over break?"

"Fred," Ron said, speaking quietly, "He's looking forward to Aurors coming, because they'll prove him innocent. It's not him"

Fred's face crumpled, and he dropped his head, putting his hands over it.

"It would just make it so much easier," He said, voice thick, "having someone to blame"

"I know. He's still a massive git"

Fred's shoulders shook, as he cried and laughed.

* * *

 _Potion Master's office, the following evening_

Severus frowned at the door as it closed behind Lucius. An invitation to the Malfoy's for a Sunday lunch was not quite totally unexpected, but there was something about how Lucius was carrying himself. Something about the man's movements spoke of nervousness. Nervousness, and a sense of urgency.

There were certainly strange occurrences happening. Severus thought of Dumbledore's news of Quirrell's apparent disappearance. And then there was that Auror. That was most troubling too. And of course, what was going on at Hogwarts right now.

For a moment, Severus debated telling Dumbledore about Lucius' invitation. He quickly overruled it. He was feeling- apathetic towards Dumbledore. Well, somewhere between apathetic and resentful. The man always knew more than he told. Besides, it was probably nothing. Ignoring the foreboding he was feeling, he went back to brewing the Draught of the Living Death for his NEWT class.

* * *

 _Second-floor girl's bathroom, the following day (Monday)_

"Myrtle, please-"

"No! Headmaster, I told you no!"

"But why, Myrtle? This could save lives!" Albus said, exasperation seeping into his usually calm tone.

"And why am I interested in that?" The ghost hissed, "After all, maybe if more students die here, they'll become ghosts and I'll have some better company than Peeves!"

Albus slumped. "Surely there is something I can trade with you for this information?"

"Maybe," she said, floating up and down until Albus began to feel seasick from watching her.

"I don't want to stay here anymore," she said softly.

"The ministry-"

"I don't mean the castle" she snapped. "I don't want this-this fake, half-life anymore"

"And what can I do?"

"Get me exorcised" came the matter of fact reply.

Albus was rendered speechless for a moment. Not a very common occurrence, Myrtle seized the opportunity.

"I hated it here when I was alive. I died in the bathroom, where I was hiding away from my bullies. I can't even leave the castle now. Even if I could, my family wouldn't be able to see me, because they're muggles. I had no friends when I was alive here, and since I died Peeves has made everything even worse. There's no one to talk to. No one who cares, at least. And because when I died, I was too much of a coward to go on, this is my lot for eternity. Get me an exorcism, and before they do it I will tell you everything you want to know"

Albus pinched the bridge of his nose. He could definitely feel a headache coming on.

"No-one knows for sure what happens to the subject of an exorcism" he attempted, gently.

"I don't care. Anything is better than this"

"Fine. If that is your wish, I will speak to the Ministry"

"Good. Come back to me when you've gotten permission" said Myrtle, turning to dive into a toilet.

"Myrtle! Such things can take time. Won't you at least tell me now, and take my word that I will get the permission?" He called, desperately.

"No" she didn't even turn back to face him. "This way, you'll at least have something pushing you to think of my desires". With that, she dove into the toilet, flooding the bathroom and disappearing from view. Albus stood still for a moment, before leaving the bathroom.

He had some letters to write.

' _Maybe while I'm doing this, I should get permission to exorcise Binns?'_

* * *

 _Azkaban prison, 1:30 Tuesday morning_

Lord Voldemort ghosted through the corridors of the infamous prison. The charms around him prevented his being noticed, although the dementors would not be a problem to him even if they did see him. He wanted this conversation to remain private.

He came to a stop in front of the cell he had been searching for. The emaciated woman within slept fitfully, unaware of his presence.

His lips curled in a silent, feral snarl. No one had the right to treat his followers like this. They were his. Retribution would come.

He cast a series of spells around him and the cell he desired.

"Bella" He called out. Had there been a witness, they would have been shocked at the gentle tone used by the fearsome Dark Lord.

"Bella" He called again, and this time she awoke, looking around in jerky motions. She saw him, and seconds later was at the bars of her cell, seeming not to have crossed the intervening space.

"My Lord," She said breathlessly, joyfully. "You live. I knew you had lived, I knew the Potter brat couldn't have killed you"

"Your faith is heartwarming"

"I am sorry my Lord," She said, suddenly despondent. "We tried to find you, but we failed. We should have done more. Searched harder. I am so sorry"

And then she was crying.

"Hush, Bella. You did not fail me. You proved your loyalty to be great"

"Thank you, my Lord," she said, brightening up.

' _Her time here has definitely affected her. She will not be as reliable in combat as once she was'_

"My Lord? Are you here to rescue me?"

"Unfortunately, now is not yet the time for that. But I promise you, Bella soon you will be free"

"Thank you, Lord. It is too late for Barty though"

"How do you mean?"

"He died, my Lord. Not too long after he came in. His parents" she spat that word, fury evident in her every line, "came to visit just before. I hear his mother died soon after too"

"Barty died?" Voldemort said, clearly confused. He looked down at his left arm and seemed to be deep in thought.

"No matter. It is a mystery for another time. Bella, time is short. I need to ask you something"

"Anything"

"I gave you an object to keep in your Gringotts vault for me. Did you remove it after I was thought to have been killed?"

Bella looked at him, shock written all over her face. "Never. It was not mine to touch. It belongs to you, my Lord. I am not worthy unless you say I am"

"Good. Bella, you have served me most loyally. I promise you, as soon as my position is right, you will be removed from this place"

"Just knowing that my Lord lives is enough for me".

"Ah, yes. About that." He pointed his wand at her. "Obliviate"

As Voldemort flew away from the falsely believed impenetrable fortress, he made plans to visit all his Horcruxes and double up the security measures. But one part of his mind wondered. ' _If Barty is dead, why can I still sense his Mark?'_

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW**


	10. Chapter 7

**AN: NONE OF THIS IS MINE**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 7

Harry looked at the face of the grizzled Auror sitting opposite him. Auror Lambert was in charge of interviewing the Slytherins.

"Name, Harry James Potter," The man said, writing it in.

"House, Slytherin. You're a second year right?" He said, rubbing his long grey hair.

"Yes, sir".

"Great" he finished scribbling down whatever he was writing and looked up at Harry, jet black eyes focused.

"Now, I've got a few questions to ask you, same ones I've been asking everyone. Then one or two more, and you're free to go. Sound good?"

"Yes, sir"

Lambert gave him a toothy grin that pulled against a scar on his cheek.

"OK then. Now, where were you on the nights of the attacks?"

"Uh. The first one, Halloween night, I was at the feast"

"Yeah. Thirty years later and I still miss those feasts. Anyone who can vouch for you?"

"I was sitting next to Draco, and I think Theo was opposite me"

"That would be Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott?"

"Yes sir"

The quill scratched as this information was noted down.

"And the night of the next attack?"

"In our common room. There was a party, we won a Quidditch match that day. I'm on the team"

"Oh? What position?"

"Chaser"

"I was a beater myself. Those common room parties" The man clucked his tongue, giving a rueful smile.

"Anyone at the party who can vouch for you?"

"Uhhh. I remember speaking to Quentin for a while, Quentin McGuire, and to Daphne Greengrass. And then Professor Snape came"

"Ok. Do you have any idea who would be doing such a thing?"

"No sir"

"Fine. I have a few more questions for you, Harry. I understand that some of the students believe you are behind this?"

Harry nodded, mutely.

"Don't worry. Your Head of House and Headmaster both vouched for you. Besides, the idea that a second year is doing this is simply preposterous. Would you mind telling me why they believe it's you?"

Harry took a deep breath. He really didn't like thinking about this. About how he was feared. Snape's words echoed in his mind. ' _They are like flies'_

"Well. It probably really started when I first came to Hogwarts. I had a bit of an argument with one of the other first years, I mean we were first years then, on the train. He got put in Gryffindor, and we've been- not enemies, but rivals since then"

"And who is this Gryffindor?"

"Ron Weasely"

"Go on, please"

"Towards the end of last year, it came out that I'm a Parselmouth. I didn't even know, I mean, I'd never just bumped into a snake before. But I spoke to a portrait of snakes, and people were watching, and it was only afterwards that Draco told me I was speaking Parseltongue. I had thought it was English"

If the Auror was at all surprised by this news, he didn't show it.

"And everyone found out? I know how news spreads in Hogwarts, it must have gone around quickly"

"Yeah. And people, at least people outside of Slytherin, weren't too happy about it. I heard a few people talking about it, they weren't exactly impressed"

Lambert gave a dry chuckle. "I'm not surprised"

Harry continued, moving on to the year at hand.

"And then, before Halloween, we, the Quidditch team that is, had an argument with the Gryffindor team. Stupid thing, about who had the pitch for training. In the end, we kept it, but when we finished and went back to the castle, the Weasley twins were waiting for us"

"And what did they do?"

"They threw balloons full of liquid Dungbombs on us. It was-terrible. And then we ran into Filch"

"The caretaker?"

"Yeah. So the rest of the team got away, but he caught me. And he gave me detention, blamed me for it"

"Snape couldn't get you out of it?" He asked, surprised.

Harry felt a blush coming. "The detention was more because I vomited on him"

"Oh. So you had the detention, and then the caretaker's cat got attacked?"

"Yeah. And then, George Weasley got attacked. So everyone just decided it must have been me"

"You'll find that when people are afraid they don't apply much critical thinking"

"No"

"Harry," Lambert said, leaning forward, face deadly serious. "We're worried that someone is attempting to frame you. Trying to make you look to be behind the attacks, in order to get you in trouble. Do you have any idea who would do that? Anyone who has a real grudge against you?"

Biting his lip slightly, Harry said, "Not really. The only person in this school who has a problem with me is Ron Weasley, and I can't see him doing this"

"No-one else?"

"Well. Last year I was attacked. Someone stunned me. But we never found out who did it!"

The Auror leaned back in his chair. "How are you treated by the other Slytherins?"

"Good? I mean, I've got friends, I'm on the Quidditch team"

"If you can think of anyone, anyone at all, let me know, ok?"

"Yes, sir"

"Also, Snape says you're aware of what the creature is, and that you've been trying to get the snake portraits to speak about it?"

"Yeah. But they're too afraid. They say they're scared of the king"

Lambert looked thoughtful. "Have you tried conjuring a snake, and asking it what it can sense? Even if it just tells you what it smells that could help"

Internally, Harry sighed. Every time he had conjured a snake he had asked it about the basilisk. And he had been practicing a lot, he could now conjure two snakes at a time if he wanted.

"Yes, sir. But I'll try again if you want to know exactly what it says?"

"That would be good. Do you want me to do the conjuration?"

"No thanks. They're more-subservient when I make them"

Harry pulled out his wand and pictured the snake he wanted. ' _Non-venomous_ '

He couldn't yet differentiate between species', but he could choose whether it would be venomous or not.

"Serpensortia" He called, and along with a plume of purple smoke, a large snake appeared before him on the floor.

It reared up, turning its head this way and that while hissing. It seemed to be giving off threats.

" _$Hello$,"_ Harry said, causing the snake to spin around to him suddenly.

" _$Hello to you. Why did you bring me here?$"_

"He wants to know why I brought him here," Harry told the startled Lambert, who began writing furiously.

"Ask it if it can give you any information about the basilisk here. If it can smell it, or hear it or whatever"

" _$We've got a problem here. We wanted to know if you could maybe help us?$"_

" _$Possibly$"_ The snake sniffed, flicking its tongue out and in, " _$What is your problem?$"_

 _"$There is a basilisk in this castle. We can't find it. We wanted to know if you can tell us anything about it if you can smell it maybe?$"_

" _$I can smell it. Its smell emanates from the walls of this place. But I will say no more. If the king has not revealed itself to you, speaker, then I shall not give away his secrets$"_

"He says the smell emanates from the walls, but he won't say anything else"

" _$Please? Can't you say-$"_ But the snake was angrily shaking its head.

" _$No! I will not speak of it! I will not!$"_

Harry vanished the agitated serpent and turned back to Lambert.

"Thank you, Harry. This may prove to be of serious help" He said, looking at his parchment. "If you think of anything else, or hear anything else, please come to me"

"I will, sir."

"Good. Will you send in Richard Poulson? Fifth year I believe"

* * *

With the Aurors there, people calmed down a bit. There still seemed to be a feeling that Harry was responsible, but the general atmosphere was far less fearful, and more upbeat. It certainly made it easier on the teachers, not having to ferry the students from class to class. This alone was a cause of celebration because it meant that they had to spend less time with Lockhart.

The man seemed to think that the month and a half without an attack was all due to him being around.

"This so-called Heir obviously realized I was on his trail, and fled. Mark my words, the Aurors are wasting their time" He had loudly complained at the end of their latest lesson with him. Theo had gotten detention for asking how the Heir got away with the first attacks if Lockhart was so great. It was a sign of how low his reputation had fallen among the students that not even Pansy had rebuked Theo. In fact, she had laughed along with everyone else.

The Aurors being around also led to more than a few couples being caught sneaking around together. This stopped after Steven Riker and his girlfriend, Mary something or other, both fifth-year Hufflepuffs were suspended after they apparently found naked together in an empty classroom.

"I mean seriously, if you were going to fuck your girl, surely you could find somewhere better than an empty classroom? And when the whole school is on high alert!"

"Theo, I don't think you have to worry about that" Tracey had replied, batting her eyelashes at him, "You'd need a girl willing to join you first"

This, of course, led to a conversation about where the best place in Hogwarts would be for some secret shagging.

' _That's the thing about Tracey. I don't feel weird talking about this type of thing in front of her. Pansy would make it way too awkward'_

"I hear that when Dawlish found them, he asked to join"

"No way," Harry said.

"That's what I heard" Theo continued, "and he only turned them in when they didn't let".

If it had been any of the other Aurors, it wouldn't even be possible to believe it. But with Dawlish, Harry could kind of imagine it happening. There was something way too weird about that man.

All the Aurors had some quirk or another, whether it was the way they were always looking everywhere, or how they kept twitching their hands to their wands. Or even how if you surprised one of them you would have a wand in your face quicker than you would think possible. Dawlish however, stared too much. Way, way too much.

* * *

Harry and Draco had asked Snape if they could resume their practice sessions. Their idea was to use an empty classroom and ask one of the Aurors to be around while they did so.

"The Aurors have better things to do with their time than babysit" Snape had snapped at them, quite uncharacteristically. He usually treated Slytherins far better. So they decided to use their bedroom to practice. It wasn't quite as good as a classroom, being cluttered with beds and bedside tables, and having the issue of people coming in and disturbing them every few minutes, but it was good enough for the moment. By now they were moving off of the Protego charm, which they had both got the grip of, and were trying to get the hang of the stunning spell, which was still eluding them. Practicing in their room actually was more convenient for this. They had cushions and blankets to spread around the floor for when one of them would actually be able to successfully cast it. Harry carried on working on his serpensortia. He could conjure 3 snakes at a time and felt that he was making some serious progress towards 4. He would only be really happy when he could choose the species though. He fantasized about waving his wand and sending 4 Black Mambas at an enemy. Weasley usually played the part of the enemy in his mind, although after a particularly frustrating Defence lesson, he spent a happy ten minutes imagining sending Boa Constrictors at Lockhart and strangling the tosser. It was strange, how easily things seemed to go back to normal. Snape reduced Longbottom to tears in potions, Harry and Granger were back to competing for the top spot in their classes, and people weren't looking over their shoulders as much. Flint forced the team to bring notebooks to the Ravenclaw-Gryffindor match and keep track of their strategies. They would be facing Ravenclaw soon enough, and he wanted the team to be as prepared as they could.

Soon enough, they were all making plans for the Easter holidays. It was still almost a month away, but spring had begun and everyone's thoughts were on the next holiday. It had been nice enough at Hogwarts, but Harry was looking forward to being at the Malfoys again. Lucius wasn't so busy anymore, the Aurors being at Hogwarts having made his job a bit easier.

The weather was good enough that they all started spending more time outside than just during Quidditch practice. It made it really weird, to be relaxing by the lake with a group of friends while a dangerous looking Auror stood to watch just within earshot.

* * *

It was about two weeks before the break would begin, that Snape kept Harry back after class.

' _He's been very uptight lately. I hope I'm not in trouble'_

"Potter, the headmaster wants to speak with you," He said curtly.

"Sir?" Harry asked confused. He couldn't think of any reason for Dumbledore to call him in. He hadn't done anything wrong had he?

"He will explain everything. Come, we must not be late"

Harry followed Snape through the potions dungeon, past the still smoking cauldrons, and up towards the Headmaster's office.

They arrived at the gargoyles guarding Dumbledore's office.

"Fudge flies" Snape hissed, and the door opened.

Harry looked around interestedly. Last time he had been in Dumbledore's office he hadn't been in much of a state to take notice of the décor.

There were shelves and shelves of interesting looking silver and copper instruments. Harry had no idea what they did but would love to find out. Some of them seemed to be letting off smoke and whirring around. Next to one wall, stood on wooden perch on which Dumbledore's phoenix slept, head covered by one spectacular wing.

The wall behind the rich mahogany desk was covered in portraits. They each had a small plaque at the bottom. Craning his neck, Harry managed to make out the names of some of them. They all seemed to be former Headmasters and Headmistress'. Some of them were sleeping, with one snoring quite loudly, while the others were engaged in soft conversation with their neighbors, or watching the three people sitting in front of Dumbledore's desk. One portrait, a wizard with an extremely thick mustache was unabashedly picking his nose and examining the contents.

"Gentleman. Thank you for coming" Dumbledore began.

Harry looked at the man sitting to his right. Auror Robards was the leader of the twenty or so Aurors stationed at Hogwarts. He looked the part. Even just sitting, relaxed, he gave the impression of being aware of and prepared for anything.

"I have called you here together because even though this conversation will primarily be with Harry, Severus, and Gawain already being aware of the information I will share, I believe you may have input"

Auror Robards, Gawain apparently, nodded. Snape didn't move. Dumbledore focused on Harry and went on.

"Based on information we have received, and the results of some testing, we believe we have found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets"

' _Ok? And why am I here?'_

"However, it would seem that it can only be opened with the use of Parseltongue"

' _Oh. Oh shit'_

"Harry, no-one can possibly fault you for saying no. It will be an extremely dangerous expedition. But I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't ask. Harry, will you join us in venturing into the Chamber of Secrets to kill the basilisk?"

' _What the fuck. What am I meant to say? I can't say no. I'd basically be killing everyone else!'_

"Do I have to come in? Can't I just open it from the outside?" Harry said, hating the pleading tone in his voice.

Dumbledore looked pained as he answered. "You don't have to do anything. It would be extremely helpful for us to have a Parselmouth within the Chamber as well. We don't know what will be waiting inside. Your skill could help with that. I will not force you to do this, Harry. No one will. It is entirely up to you?"

Harry's mouth felt far too dry. "Is there no other Parselmouth you can get?"

Dumbledore sighed. "If only. The only other Parselmouth I am aware of lives in the Himalayan Mountains. I have not been able to contact him. He is an extremely private wizard."

' _I can't say no'_

"Then I'll do it"

Dumbledore and Robards both had relieved looks. Snape still seemed totally bored and unaffected.

"Excellent. We will be going in on Saturday. We will be meeting tomorrow evening at eight to discuss strategy. Severus will bring you to the meeting"

 **REGARDING THE NUMBER OF AURORS AND HOW THERE REALLY SHOULDN'T BE ENOUGH AURORS IN BRITAIN FOR TWENTY OF THEM TO GO ON A SINGLE MISSION: NOT ALL OF THEM ARE AURORS, MOST ARE HIT WIZARDS. IN FACT, 15 ARE HIT WIZARDS AND 5 ARE AURORS. THE KIDS CALL THEM ALL AURORS BECAUSE THEY DON'T REALLY KNOW THE DIFFERENCE. MUCH LIKE HOW GROWING UP EVERY POLICEMAN IS A DETECTIVE AND THE LIKE.**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW**


	11. Interlude III

**AN: I OWN NOTHING**

 **PART OF THE DIALOGUE IS DIRECTLY COPIED FROM HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. I STILL DON'T OWN IT.**

 **TORTURE TOWARDS THE END OF THIS CHAPTER**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY!**

Interlude III

 _Second-floor girl's bathroom_

Albus stood in front of the departed (but not much lamented) Myrtle Warren. Gawain Robards stood by his side.

' _He always was an excellent student. I'm not surprised he has risen so far in his department'_

"So, Myrtle. I have here" he flourished the parchment before her, "A signed document from the Ministry giving their permission for an exorcism, with the signature of the Unspeakable who will be performing it"

A torrent of emotions crossed the ghost's face.

"Finally" she whispered, floating closer and examining the document closely. An expression of consternation crossed her face, she folded her arms and crossly said, "Why is it only going to be done over the summer?"

"The presence of additional people or background magic in the area could ruin the ritual. During the year, while the students are around it will be far more difficult, if not impossible to ensure that this floor, at the very least, is kept clear of everyone not participating"

' _That, and it would be quite difficult to find a temporary History teacher'_.

Myrtle looked very unhappy with this. Dumbledore just looked at her with his most piercing gaze until she threw up her arms and huffed.

"Fine! I'll suffer a bit longer. After fifty years, what're a few more months in prison?"

"Very little," Dumbledore said, nodding calmly.

"Miss Warren, please. Would you tell us about your death?"

"Call me Myrtle," she said, looking at Gawain.

"Myrtle, please. Would you tell us about your death?"

"I'd hidden because Olive Hornby was teasing me about my glasses. The door was locked, and I was crying, and then I heard somebody come in. They said something funny. A different language, I think it must have been. Anyway, what really got me was that it was a boy speaking. So I unlocked the door, to tell him to go and use his own toilet, and then- I died."

"Did you see anything? Anything at all?"

"There was a pair of huge eyes. Yellow. The pupils were barely more than slits. I've had a long time to think about those eyes" She said, morosely.

"Can you tell us anything about this voice? This different language?" Gawain said, eager to keep the conversation moving.

"Well," she said, eyes screw up in conversation, "It was definitely a boy's voice. It wasn't very loud, I couldn't hear the words, but it definitely wasn't English. The words all flowed together too much"

"Where exactly did you hear the voice coming from?"

"It's hard to say. Things echo in here. But it sounded like over there" She said, waving towards a few sinks opposite the stalls.

"Thank you, Myrtle. If need be, we will come back to ask further questions"

She nodded, turning more and more translucent until she was no longer visible. Robards turned towards the sinks she had motioned to. Dumbledore was already examining them closely, and he seemed to be waving his wand around them and muttering to himself.

Something seemed to catch the old wizard's attention. He was now focused entirely on one particular sink. After a few minutes, he ceased his wand movements and started physically examining it very carefully.

"Gawain? Come here please?" He said, voice slightly higher pitched than usual.

"Yes?" Robards said, ambling over.

"What do you think that is? That carving?"

Robards looked where Dumbledore's trembling figure was pointing. His breath hitched for a second.

"That's a snake"

"Indeed". Dumbledore straightened up, back-clicking, and returned to his wand motions.

Shortly enough, he turned to Robards.

"I believe the Chamber requires verbal confirmation to open it"

The Auror knotted his brow. "Well, it could be anything. How are we going to figure out the password?"

"I don't believe the wording matters. I think it is far more important how it is said, than what exactly is said"

It took him a moment, but then "Parseltongue" he grunted.

"Indeed. I believe we should speak to Mr. Potter"

* * *

 _Malfoy Manor_

The meal had been excellent, as always. Narcissa, or rather, her house elves, always made a wonderful show when guests were coming. Snape hadn't missed the glances being passed between Lucius and Narcissa, or the way that the conversation had of fizzing out. Even when it was their precious son they were talking about.

Even when it was Harry Potter they were talking about.

Severus hadn't missed the compassion in their voices when asking about Harry.

It galled him.

It galled him because he too found himself pitying and caring for the boy. Caring for James' son.

He had mostly stopped thinking of Harry as James' son, it was true. Now, he was more likely to think of him as Lily's son, or simply as Harry. The most recent conversation he had with the boy had been enough to make him wish he was still a Death Eater. To wish he could just go to that orphanage and kill everyone there. To kill them and torture them and laugh as they died. It had reignited his old hate for muggles. His old fear of them, his old memories of his father. Memories and thoughts that he had tried to lock away. And yet, Harry pulled them out of him without even noticing what he was doing.

It was absolutely galling.

The meal finished, Lucius stood up.

"Would you join me in my study, Severus?"

"Of course," He said, standing himself. Noting the way Narcissa's eyes darted between them.

Lucius opened his study. He seemed to take a deep breath before entering.

' _And now, I unravel the mystery'_

Severus walked into the gloom after Lucius. It took his eyes a moment or two to adjust, and when they did they widened.

Lucius was on one knee in front of his chair.

' _Run. Leave now!'_

"I have brought you Severus, my Lord." He heard Lucius saying, and his heart all but stopped.

"Leave us" came the voice from the chair, and Severus' heart skipped a beat.

' _No. It cannot be'_

Lucius walked past him, eyes full of pity.

"Well, Severus? Come forward"

And the Mark on Snape's arm burned.

Severus walked towards what he was sure was his doom. He kneeled before the chair. It felt more like a throne to his mind.

"My Lord," He said, voice not betraying his the hysteria bubbling within.

"Severus. You have always been a most composed one. Tell me, am I truly your Lord?"

' _I am going to die'_

"Of course. I remain loyal, I-"

"Crucio"

Writhing on the floor, Severus somehow managed not to scream. Voldemort raised an eyebrow at that.

After a short eternity, the curse was lifted and panting, Snape got back on his knee.

"My Lord, I assure you-"

"Crucio"

This time he screamed, wails echoing in the study.

Voldemort smiled and lifted the curse.

"Tell me, Severus, do you remember our last conversation? When I was still possessing Quirrell?"

' _What. What. It was him. Merlin help me'_

"No, my Lord"

"Crucio"

After a while, the curse was lifted. Snape couldn't get up, and lay on the floor, twitching and squirming.

"Oh, but you wouldn't remember it. Even for an Occlumens like yourself, memories can be removed. And even for an Occlumens like yourself, the truth can be ascertained"

"Crucio"

Snape screamed until he thought his throat would burst, and then it was over. He was kicked in the ribs, and he rolled over onto his back. Looking up into those red points in the dim light, he knew he was seeing his last sight.

"You told me everything" Voldemort hissed. "How you loved her and abandoned me when it became clear I would kill her. How you turned traitor and spied for Dumbledore"

"Crucio"

One clear thought burst, through the pain.

' _Let him kill me. Let me die and let this end'_

The curse lifted. He was kicked onto his back again.

"You told me everything, Severus. How Dumbledore's treatment of her son had led you to begin resenting the man. How you felt that you were beginning to move past her specter. How you missed the good old days. How you could never relive them because her ghost haunts your mind"

"Crucio"

The curse lifted. He was lying on his back, but he was still kicked.

"Now, Severus, you dare call yourself loyal? You dare address me as your lord?"

Snape looked up, through the haze of pain. He wouldn't be able to take much more. His mind would break. A few more Crucios and he would be an empty husk. He shuddered at the thought, but still awaited whatever would bring an end to the pain.

"I give you an offer. I only will give you this choice once, and you must make it right away. Join me again, swear your loyalty to me, or die"

' _Do it. Whatever will stop the pain. And perhaps, you can find redemption'_

Voldemort wasn't finished talking.

"You are only even receiving this offer because of your position. You could be most useful to me. So what say you, Severus?"

Snape tried to speak, but the words came out all garbled.

"That won't do. You will speak, Severus. Crucio"

The spell lifted. Snape could feel his mind starting to loosen its hold.

' _No!'_ He thought, in growing horror. He tried to speak again, and again. On the third time, he succeeded. His voice came out hoarse, still garbled. But understandable.

"I swear"

"Good". Voldemort waved his wand in a complicated maneuver, and Snape felt strength rushing back into his body. He hurriedly got back on one knee, before the chair.

"So you will join me, Severus? And you will not betray me again?"

"I will never betray you again, my Lord"

"Then you will have no problem swearing an Unbreakable Oath"

For a second everything seemed to stop. His thoughts rushed through his head, and then his shoulders slumped as he said "I will gladly swear it if my Lord wishes so"

Voldemort clasped Snape's arm in a sudden motion. After a split-second hesitation, Snape gripped his arm back.

"My Lord? Who will bond us?"

"I require no bonder, fool"

"Do you, Severus Snape, swear to never betray me, whether in deed, word, inaction, or any form of a hint?"

Snape closed his eyes.

' _No turning back. I never claimed to be a good person'_

"I do so swear"

A line of fire formed around their arms.

"Do you, Severus Snape, swear to obey my orders whenever you are capable of doing so?"

"I do so swear"

A second line of flame formed, crisscrossing around the first.

"And do you, Severus Snape, swear to cause no harm to my other followers, whether in deed, word, inaction, or any form of a hint, unless it is in self-defense or under my orders?"

"I do so swear"

A third line of fire encircled their arms. The flames hung in midair for an instant, and Snape felt an urge to shout out in rejection before the fire settled into their skin. There was no pain.

"Severus. It occurs to me, that if you were feeling sufficiently self-sacrificing you would break the Oath, even though it would mean your death"

"My Lord, I would not-"

"Silence. I should have included something about being a sycophant. You will sign this contract. With this quill"

Voldemort thrust a parchment into Snape's hands, along with a Blood Quill. The wording was exactly the same as that of the Oath he had just sworn. With one addition.

'I Severus Snape, do solemnly swear to not attempt to find a loophole or a way around the Oaths I have sworn, and to obey the spirit of them, and not just the letter'.

With a sinking sensation, Severus signed it, grimacing as his hand was cut open for a second.

' _I'm sorry Lily. I'm so sorry'_

"Now Severus, let us talk"

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	12. Chapter 8

**AN: I OWN NOTHING OF VALUE. ALAS.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY!**

Chapter 8

"We are going through the plan one last time," Robards said, in his best commanding officer voice. The assembled Aurors and teachers stood in lines, paying attention. Harry stood just behind them, focusing as if his life depended on it. Which, it very well might.

"Based on the mapping we have managed to do, the entrance seems to lead to a large tunnel which opens into a cavern. It is in this cavern that we expect to find the basilisk"

"Minerva will be outside the bathroom door, accompanied by Grubbly-Plank, Hagrid, Dawlish, and Lambert. If everything goes to hell it is up to you to hold the snake up while evacuation proceeds"

McGonagall gave a curt nod. Next, to her, Hagrid merely seemed upset that he wouldn't be joining them in the Chamber. And that they would be killing the beast, of course. 

"Inside the bathroom, Pomfrey, Flitwick, Stevenson, and Smith will be waiting just outside the entrance. You will be watching for flares, or for any form of communication. It is up to you to handle any injuries, and to pass messages on to the evac team if need be"

The mentioned team positioned themselves near the sink, but not too close.

"The rest of us will be heading in. Dumbledore, Kettleburn and I will take point. Snape will be at the back, with Potter. Everyone else will be in between. Once we get it, we will proceed as cautiously and quietly as possible. Understood?" 

"Yes, sir" Came a chorus of replies.

"Good. Remember, we have received authorization for the use of the killing curse. Do not cast it if there is even a possibility of it hitting one of us. Rather use the Conjunctivitis" 

There were nods, some of the task force looking quite green.

"Any sight of anything that isn't one of us, cast Obscuro and the Conjunctivitis before anything else"

"Wait!" Kettleburn burst into the conversation. He looked quite odd, waving his metal arm in the arm and stamping his wooden leg. "Do you realize what an opportunity you would be ruining by blinding it?"

He received a lot of confused looks at that.

"An opportunity to get ourselves killed?" Someone said weakly

"No! No-one has ever had the chance to research a basilisk's gaze. We don't know whether or not it's active after death!"

"And this matters, why?" Robards said.

Dumbledore looked like he wanted nothing more than to laugh like a loon.

"Because it's a prime chance to test it! Once it's killed, we make a mouse look into its eyes, and if it dies we have an answer"

Robards stared at Kettleburn for a few minutes. "Ok," he said slowly, "If we manage to kill the damn thing without having to blind it first, you can test all you want" 

Kettleburn looked disgruntled at that, but Robards just turned away from him and addressed the team again.

"Keep in mind that we only have a vague idea of the set up down there. We could be walking into all sorts of surprises"

"Potter"

Harry looked up at him. "Yes, sir"

"You've got your mirror with you?"

Harry nodded.

"Good. Will you do the honors?" 

Harry walked forward, heart pounding. He stopped before the sink. The sink would take them down.

Taking a deep breath, he released it with a hissed _"$Open$"_

The tap spun, glowing white. The sink disappearing, fading away, leaving a large pipe jutting into the bathroom. A pipe that was getting bigger and bigger by the moment. Eventually, once the pipe was almost at the ceiling it stopped growing. Harry turned around to face the astonished crowd. More than one face was deathly pale.

Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Thank you, Harry. If you will take your place with Professor Snape"

Dumbledore meanwhile, was casting spell after spell into the descending darkness.

"Nothing living in this section. Onward gentleman. Into the Chamber of Secrets. Careful on the stairs, I may have made them slightly rough"

The stairs weren't exactly rough. They were stone, and if Dumbledore hadn't said that he had made them, Harry would have been sure they had been there since the Chamber was made. 

Bringing up the rear with Snape, Harry looked at the forest of Lumos' in front of him, and the little balls of light above Dumbledore. It wasn't enough to really light up the place, but it did cast enough of a glow around to see where they were going.

By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, the front already moved quite a bit forwards. Flaming letters shot into the air where the front group was and formed out words. 

**SMALL ANIMAL BONES AHEAD. TREAD CAREFULLY**

Shortly after seeing that, Harry and Snape reached the bones. They seemed to carpet the ground. The crunching feeling they gave off made Harry feel quite ill. There was some strange type of moss on the walls here, giving off a bit of light in a greenish hue. It made the whole place feel far creepier than before.

"Holy shit! Look at the size of this!"

Kettleburns exclamation sent a shock through everyone, and Snape gripped Harry's arm quite hard.

"Did you forget we were being quiet?" Came Robards' hiss a few seconds later.

"Of course not, but if a skin it already shed is this large, it must be at least sixty foot by now! That's-"

"Shut up! Unless you want the sixty-foot snake with deadly eyes to be waiting for us?" 

Kettleburn's reply was lost in the echoes, and Harry lets go of a breath he didn't know he was holding. 

' _Sixty fucking foot!'_

When they reached the skin, Snape ran a hand over it. "My god" He whispered to himself.

The flaming letters appeared again.

 **POTTER AND SNAPE, COME TO THE FRONT**

Harry gulped.

When they reached the front, they found everyone standing together, in front of a statue. They were speaking in very hushed tones. Dumbledore motioned them over.

"The statue conceals a small room. There is something living inside"

Harry looked at the statue. He recognized the face from the portrait in his common room. 

"I believe that it requires Parseltongue to open"

"But won't the Basilisk come out as soon as it opens?" Harry asked, trembling.

"Vey possibly" There was no trace of humor on Dumbledore's face or in his eyes now. "Which is why, you will open it and run to the back immediately" 

"Shouldn't I try speaking to the snake?"

"I doubt anything you could say will calm it down when it sees so many targets before it"

Harry looked up at the statue again.

' _I can't do this'_

He was shaking hard. He was about to release a fucking basilisk, one that he would not be able to control at all.

' _If you do this, no-one will be able to think you were behind it. You're better than them aren't you? Prove it'_

Harry nodded to Dumbledore, not willing to speak.

The flaming letters appeared again.

 **POSITIONS**

The assembled wizards spread out in a semi-circle around the statue, with Harry and Snape dead center. 

Harry looked around. Robards nodded at him, looking grim.

" _$Open$"_ Harry hissed. Immediately the mouth of the statue was growing huge. Snape gripped Harry's arm and pulled him away. 

A chorus of voices shouted out "Obscuro"

" _$KILL ALL OF YOU! ATTACK ME?! I WILL EAT YOUR BONES! I WILL FIND YOUR SPEAKER AND CRUSH HIM! YOU WOULD FIGHT ME? DRINK YOUR BLOOD!$"_

And the room was lit up with green, as eighteen voice shouted "Avada Kedavra!"

An enormous thump that sent tremors through Harry's legs announced the success of their curses.

Harry and Snape stopped their frantic run and turned around to the cheering crowd. 

Kettleburn was busy with the snake's corpse, while the rest of them seemed to be watching and talking amongst themselves. Dumbledore stood off to one side, shaking his head slightly as he watched.

"Aha! As I suspected. It only works when the basilisk is alive!"

"Well," Robards said, with a grin that somehow didn't seem to fit his face, "You got your wish. Mind telling us why this is so important?"

Kettleburn looked incredulous at this. "Why this is important? It just means that a basilisk's gaze works totally different to a gorgon's! We have so much to learn!" 

"Well Silvanus, you'll be able to learn a lot when we dissect it," Dumbledore said. 

"Dissect it? But it's a perfect specimen!"

"Yes, but it's parts are exceedingly expensive. And since we will be losing out on some of our Mandrake revenue this year, it would be most foolish to waste it"

"It's not a waste! Think of the educational opportunities!"

Dumbledore masterfully ignored the ranting professor and turned to cast a spell around the room. 

"No presence of any living beings here, other than ourselves. Thank you, gentlemen, you have just saved many, many lives" 

"Just doing our job," Robards said, still wearing that terrible grin.

"Come, let us not allow Minerva and the others to spend too much time fretting. I also believe we have a feast to plan"

The feast was enough to rival even the Christmas feast. Somehow, the news had already spread throughout the entire school that the creature causing the attacks had been a basilisk and that it had been killed. And that Harry Potter had helped kill it. Harry didn't disabuse anyone of that notion but instead basked in the admiration. Even from within his own house, who seemed a bit disgruntled that the attacks on the unworthy would now cease, they still were impressed enough that it covered up their unhappiness. After all, Basilisk's did carry a rather intense reputation. 

After everyone was getting quite full from the amazing meal, Dumbledore stood up to speak.

"Hogwarts owes a great debt to the Aurors and representatives of the ministry who have helped rid us of the basilisk that was causing so much damage. This is a debt that I feel we will not be able to repay in full. At the very least, we each owe them our thanks"

There was a round of applause as Robards stood up to shake Dumbledore's hand.

"Additionally, there is someone else who deserves our thanks. Harry Potter" The Hall went silent as everyone turned to stare at him, "Who, using his gift of Parseltongue made it possible for us to even reach the basilisk. He did so, even though it was quite likely he was putting his own life at risk"

There was loud applause. Dumbledore waited for it to die down before continuing.

"For this, he will be receiving the Order of Merlin, First class. As well as, oh let's say, seventy-five points to Slytherin" 

There was applause again, but nothing came close to the eruption that occurred at the Slytherin table. He found himself the center of a giant hug, and someone was shouting "We'll win that cup again this year!" 

All Harry could think, was that now people wouldn't hate him. 

He had no idea how wrong he was

 **SHORT CHAPTER, BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO?**

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	13. Chapter 9

**AN: I STILL DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 9

People, Harry decided, were fickle idiots incapable of thought.

By the time he had finished eating breakfast the day after Dumbledore's announcement, he had already told the story of the slaying of the basilisk at least fifteen times. More than that, at least twenty different students, mostly Hufflepuffs, had come over to apologize for wrongly suspecting him. Granger had come as well, with Weasley trailing behind her, and by the time that conversation was done Harry was more than sick of the fake smile he had plastered over his face. It was all well and good that he was no longer suspected, that people weren't cringing at the sight of him anymore, but their constant attention was just so incredibly tiresome.

He had shouted at that stupid mudblood Creevey to get out of his way and just let him get to class when the brat wouldn't stop talking his ear off after breakfast. Not only that, but he had an annoying habit of sidling in front of the person he was talking to, so Harry kept having to stop walking down the hallways to answer another one of his stupid, non-stop questions.

He actually lost points for Slytherin for coming late to Defence! It was almost enough for him to wish Creevey was still there so he could practice some of his recently learned curses on him.

After class, as everyone was filing out, the grinning fool called for Harry to stay back.

"Mr. Potter? A word, if you please?"

Harry turned around and walked past the rows of desks to where Lockhart stood. He didn't notice the classroom door closing and locking itself behind him.

For a long few minutes, Lockhart simply stared at Harry. Stared hard, smile having fallen from his face.

"Do you think I wouldn't be able to see what you're doing?" The man whispered

' _What the hell is this lunatic talking about?'_

"Sir? What-"

"You thought I wouldn't realize, didn't you?" With growing horror, Harry saw the hate lined on the man's face.

"Sir, I really don't know what you mean. I-"

"Don't lie boy! You're trying to steal my fame, aren't you?!"

Harry was so taken aback by the utter incomprehensibleness of this, that he did something that may have been quite unwise.

He giggled quite nervously.

"You are! You knew that I had the third class Order of Merlin, and you were so set on beating me that you had to do something to one-up me! How dare you!"

Harry simply goggled. Lockhart was running his hand through his hair and looked most deranged. He continued to rave.

"Simply because you know that otherwise there's nothing you can do that will come close to my accomplishments! So you opened the Chamber, and made sure that you could join the task force!"

"I'm already more famous than you," Harry said, blurting out without even thinking. This stopped Lockhart dead in his tracks, and he focused on Harry, eyes bulging.

"What?"

"I'm already more famous than you. Every witch and wizard in Britain actually knows my name. Probably all over the world too"

Lockhart looked unable to speak, his throat working furiously but no noise coming out. And Harry, with months of pent-up rage and frustration and hate, simply exploded at the man.

"And what have you actually done? Oh, you claim to have saved this village and that village, but you've been the most useless Defence teacher here in years! You haven't successfully shown us a single spell, always just talking about how you fought this werewolf and that vampire. I wouldn't be surprised if it was all lies!"

Harry stopped at the startled and guilty look on his teacher's face. The man had paled ominously and was trembling slightly.

"I'm right, aren't I? It's all lies"

And Lockhart took a deep breath and smiled at him.

"Not quite. I must say, it's a relief to actually be able to discuss it"

Harry's brow knotted as he tried to work out what the fuck the man was on about now. But as before, Lockhart seemed to want nothing so much as to hear his own voice.

"All the stories are true. The only false part is that I did them. Of course, it was a public service. The stories deserved to be heard, and the public would not be interested in hearing about the useless witches and wizards who actually did those deeds"

"So you, what, just pretended it was all you? And they were fine with that?" Harry said, beginning to feel trepidation.

"Fine? I wouldn't say that. They just don't remember any of it. Just like you won't remember any of this conversation"

' _What'_

"You see, Harry, I've always been particularly skilled at memory charms. Served me well over the years. I deserve the fame, and a witch with a harelip doesn't, no matter how many werewolves she fought"

Harry was about to say something, but Lockhart had raised his wand.

"And so, Harry, you're going to forget all about this. Hopefully, I won't take too much, one time in Eastern China. Well, it doesn't matter. They don't know. Obliviate!"

His Quidditch training and spell practice with Draco came into good use. Harry managed to twist out of the way of the green spell coming his way, albeit crashing hard into a desk, bruising his knee.

"No!"

"Harry, just stay still. It really isn't so bad. Obliviate!"

Reacting almost purely on instinct, Harry managed to cast the Protego, for the first time in earnest, and not merely in a friendly duel. The Memory charm crashed into it, giving off a ghostly green light as it splashed against something invisible.

Fire burning in his skin, Harry faced Lockhart. "Serpensortia"

Four large snakes appeared between him and Lockhart. One of them began saying something, which Harry frantically interrupted.

" _$Help me! Stop him!$"_

As one, the snakes slithered towards Lockhart, hissing and spitting as they drew nearer.

With a flourish of his wand, Lockhart blasted one of them a good ten feet back. Based on its cursing though, it was unhurt and slithered back into the fight.

"Expelliarmus!"

Lockhart's wand came flying through the air into Harry's outstretched arm.

" _$Don't let him leave!$"_ Harry shout-hissed at the snakes as he ran to the door, ignoring Lockhart's exclamations behind him.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" Harry screamed into the empty hallway.

"ANYONE?! LOCKHART'S GONE-"

"Mr. Potter? What's going on?" Professor McGonagall seemed to come out of nowhere, looking pale. Relief flooded through Harry.

"It's Lockhart. He's-He's gone mad. He was trying to Obliviate me, saying I'm stealing his fame and-"

"Where is he now?" She jutted in, face set and hard.

"In the classroom. I left some snakes guarding him. Here's his wand" He said, handing it over to her.

She looked at it for a second, taken aback before waving her own. A silver, almost translucent cat shot out her wand and began preening.

"Find Albus, tell him Lockhart has attacked Harry Potter. He should bring his Pensieve to the Defence classroom. Then find Severus and tell him the same"

With that, the angry teacher strode into Lockhart's classroom and now prison.

She stopped dead at the sight that met her. She would deny it if asked, but Harry would be willing to swear he saw a smile spread across her face for a second at the sight of Lockhart cowering on the floor, hands over his head, as four angry snakes surrounded him and hissed. The man in question looked up at the sound of their entrance.

"Minerva, thank God! Potter's gone mad, set these snakes on me! Stole my wand too, give me a hand".

Harry had to admire the man's attempt. He sounded almost completely unfazed, and like he really believed what he was saying. It was incredible.

"I think not, Gilderoy. Dumbledore's on his way, we should soon ascertain the truth"

"The truth?! What did the boy tell you?! He set these snakes on me, look! It must have been him, Minnie. He opened the Chamber, and-"

"Don't. You. Dare. Call. Me. Minnie" The words came out, slowly enunciated, in furious tones. Her nostrils flaring, she looked ready to turn him into some type of bug and squash him underfoot.

"Sorry, sorry. But you can't tell me that you actually believe him?! The boy is clearly touched!"

"Oh, I would believe Harry over you if he told me that an invisible horde of Hippogriffs rampaged through the classroom without my noticing while you denied it. I would believe Harry over you if he even went so far as to claim that you were somewhat suitable as a teacher. I would believe Harry over you-"

What else, exactly she would believe Harry over Lockhart was not made clear, because it was at that moment that Dumbledore burst into the room, radiating power and rage. He was followed moments later by Snape, who seemed to take the scene in with a glance, and whose wand hand kept twitching ominously.

"What happened?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry told the story, aware that he was bungling it up, jumbling Lockhart's exact wording up, but Dumbledore seemed to get the gist of it.

"Harry," he said, pointing to the odd stone bowl he had placed on a table. "This is a Pensieve. Do you know what a Pensieve is?"

Harry shook his head, mute.

"It is a device that allows one to view memories. I would ask if you would allow us to view your memories of what transpired here"

"Yes. How do I do it?"

Dumbledore raised his wand until it was touching the side of Harry's head.

"Simply focus on what happened. Focus hard on the exact scene in question"

A horrible thought occurred. "I'm not going to lose the memory, am I?"

"No. It—makes a copy of the memory, so to speak"

Harry nodded and thought about what had happened. He thought on the conversation with Lockhart, and how the man had started sending spells against him. He almost didn't notice when Dumbledore pulled the wand away from his head, trailing a wispy, fog-like substance from it, which he dropped into the strange liquid in the Pensieve.

With a wave of his wand, Dumbledore left Lockhart tied up. "Harry," he asked, gently, "Would you like to join us in reviewing the memory?"

' _No. I'm not living that again'_

He shook his head.

"Very well. Minerva, Severus. If you please"

With that, the Headmaster and two Heads of House stuck their heads into the Pensieve.

Harry waited nervously, ignoring the gibberish Lockhart was spouting at him. Mingled threats and bribes, along with pleading to let him go and forget about it all.

After a short while, the memory seemed to have finished. Dumbledore looked absolutely furious, something so incongruous that Harry wasn't even sure what he was seeing for a few seconds. Snape looked like he wanted to kill Lockhart. McGonagall was actually trembling with rage.

"We must contact the Ministry. If the implications are correct, there are many victims left in his wake"

"Never mind that, Albus. We must examine the students!"

Dumbledore seemed to shrink into himself.

"I fear you are right, Minerva. If he is as unscrupulous with Memory charms as he has proven to be, I dread to think of the damage he may have caused"

Dumbledore turned to Harry. "Harry, when the Aurors come, you will have to recount the events to them. Do you feel up to this?"

"Can't they just use the Pensieve?" Harry said, hating the whining sound his voice gave off.

It was Snape who answered.

"Legally, a Pensieve can only be used to check up on something a witness or suspect has already given testimony about. It does not stand on its own"

Harry looked at their set, serious expressions.

"Yes, I will"

"And, Harry. I apologize in advance, for having to ask this. But if it comes to trial, you will probably be called as a witness. Will you be able to do this?"

Harry closed his eyes.

' _The rigamarole never fucking ends, does it'_

"Yes"

"Take the rest of the day off, Harry. Relax. You have just been through a most stressful and intimidating experience. If you wish, Madam Pomfrey has potions that will help..."

"No thanks, sir. I'll just go to the library"

And so, Harry left the room and found solace in books.

* * *

By lunchtime, everyone in the school seemed to have found out that something had happened between Lockhart and Harry. It was common knowledge that Aurors had come to the school and arrested Lockhart, and interviewed Harry. It was also common knowledge that a message from Professor McGonagall had interrupted a potions class to tell Snape that Lockhart had attacked Harry Potter.

Everything else, though, was unclear. Again, person after person had come over to ask Harry what had happened. After telling his friends the story, Harry had shut his mouth and just ignored everyone peppering him with questions.

Even after Dumbledore made an announcement that anyone who had noticed any discrepancies in their memories should report to their Head of House, and faces turned towards Harry, Harry kept silent.

Harry left the Great Hall, Colin Creevey once again following him and pestering him with questions.

"Is it true you dueled Lockhart? And that you summoned Gargoyles to fight him? How did you do that, Harry? It must have been amazing-"

Harry left Creevey with his legs tied together and pimples erupting all over his body. The little wanker really couldn't take a hint.

Having been given the rest of the day off as well as the morning, Harry decided he would spend it all in the library.

' _Fuck it. If there's something that cheers me up, it's those books in the restricted section'_

He had his invisibility cloak on him, so it shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem to sneak in. It would be good to get away from everyone for a bit.

' _Only a few more days till break. Thank god for the Malfoy's. I'd lose my mind if I had to spend it here'_

And that is how Harry Potter came to be walking past an empty classroom, and to hear soft crying coming from inside it.

Barely giving it a second thought, he walked in.

There was a girl, a Ravenclaw first-year, huddled on the floor. She didn't seem to be wearing shoes and had a really weird hairnet on.

"Uh, are you ok?" He asked, feeling stupid.

' _Of course, she isn't ok. She's crying in an empty classroom. Why you seem to think that's your problem, though…'  
_

The girl pulled her hands away from her face, revealing large silver eyes. They widened when she looked at him.

"You're Harry Potter," she said, almost accusingly.

"Uh, yeah. You're...Lisa?" He said, uncomfortably.

"Luna"

"What's wrong, Luna? Where are your shoes?"

She was crying again, softly this time.

"The other girls took them. They say that I'm crazy and that I don't need shoes because my Nargles can carry me. Even though I told them they're not my Nargles, and they don't carry people, they still took them"

' _What the hell are Nargles?'_

But Harry felt pity fill his body. Pity for this girl who reminded him so much of himself at the hands of Joseph and his friends.

' _Good thing you killed Joseph hey? Now you'll never know-'_

' _SHUT UP! HE DESERVED TO DIE! IM BETTER THAN HE WAS, AND HE DESERVED TO DIE'  
_

He slid down the wall until he was sitting next to the strange girl on the floor.

"You know," He said conversationally, "A wise man told me something interesting"

This seemed to pique her interest

"Did you find him on a hilltop?"

"What?"

"The wise man. Did you find him on a hilltop? That's where the wisest men stay"

"No. I found him in a castle"

"Oh"

"Yeah. You wanna know what he told me?"

"Yes, please," she said, voice oddly stilted.

"He told me that people get afraid when they see someone better than them. They get jealous when they meet people who can do things that they can't"

"Really?"

"Really really. And you know what they do?"

"What?" she asked, eyes wide

"They try to put them down. Because if they can hurt them, it means they're not actually better. But you mustn't mind, because they're just jealous. They know you're better, so they try to hurt you"

"I don't think I'm better. I just think I can do some things they can't. They can do things I can't" She all but whispered

"Like what?"

"Make friends"

' _Ouch'_

"You'll make friends"

"Will you be my friend?"

"I'd like to, but it will be hard. We're in different houses, and different years…"

"That's ok. Maybe we can talk sometimes. It would be nice to have someone to talk to who doesn't think I'm crazy"

' _I do think you're crazy though. This is what I get for trying to be nice'_

"Ok"

"You know, you have a very clear head. The Wampwots must not be bothering you much"

"I'm sure they aren't"

"Well here," she said, rummaging in her pockets, "If you wear this, the Wampwots won't bother you, and you'll be able to keep a clear head always. Won't that be nice?"

"I'm sure it will," He said, taking the proffered bracelet from her. It seemed to be multi-colored peas, on a piece of string.

"And if you want, I have an extra necklace to ward off Hishgrabs"

"That's ok, I don't wear necklaces"

"Oh"

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	14. Interlude IV

**AN: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS.**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Interlude IV

 _Severus Snape's quarters, Hogwarts_

Snape had given up on trying to kill himself. He didn't know exactly what in the Oaths he had sworn was stopping him, but something was. He had pointed the wand at his chest and tried, but the words simply didn't come. Even thinking them wasn't working. And it wasn't just the Killing Curse, but Sectumsempra, Diffindo, Reducto. None of them worked. The Blood Boiling curse failed as well. He simply couldn't cast them. He had tried to drink poison, but couldn't force it into his throat. He had tried to slit his wrists, but couldn't apply the force needed to do so. All in all, he was cursed to live.

To live, and serve the Dark Lord.

And worse than merely serving him, he knew of his plans for Harry Potter and had no choice but to help bring them to fruition.

When Severus Snape was still a boy, he read a series of muggle books about a detective named Sherlock Holmes. He had been so amazed at how the fictional man was able to notice and understand everything. He had thought that no one in real life could have such a skill.

He had been wrong.

The Dark Lord didn't simply amass such power and followers as he had due to his prodigious magical ability. No, the man was a charismatic manipulator of the highest order, and intelligent enough to make a genius jealous.

He could read people in a way that reminded Severus of his favourite detective reading a crime scene.

Severus could never forget his first private conversation with the Dark Lord. He had been fifteen. At one of Lucius' soirees, the Dark Lord had started speaking privately to him. He had been so honoured. And then he heard what the Dark Lord had to say, and knew that he would swear himself to this man.

"I killed my father when I was your age" He had said, looking straight through Severus. "He was a worthless muggle, and I disposed of him"

Severus had been shocked, to say the least. Not only had the Dark Lord just admitted to being a half-blood, but he felt a kindred spirit within him. Here was someone who understood. Who understood what it was to be saddled with a worthless lump of a man who had given you life. To have to claw and fight for every bit of power and strength you wished.

Within six months of that conversation, Severus had been Marked.

And the Dark Lord's plan was brilliant, of course.

Draco wanted nothing more than to prove his worth and to out-do his father. The Dark Lord would most definitely be able to phrase joining him as achieving precisely that. And if Draco balked at the initiation, well, Severus would be in charge of preventing that.

And then there was Harry. A lonely abused magically talented child with a strong desire to just fit in. If the Dark Lord played it right, and he usually did, he would be able to convince him quite easily. Especially if he, Severus Snape, the boy's Head of House, who the boy looked up to, would be pushing him to join. And he would be. He had no choice.

And it was agony.

It would have been a pleasure if Harry was only James' son. A pleasure to take him and mold him into a perfect little Death Eater. A final, glorious fuck you to James.

But Harry was Lily's son, and Severus couldn't bear to see those eyes peering through a mask.

Severus was aware that his way of viewing Harry was not exactly healthy. If he saw him as James' son, he wanted nothing more than to crush him. If he saw him as Lily's son, he wanted nothing more than to protect him, keep him safe and away from evil. If he saw him as simply Harry, he viewed him almost as he did Draco. A child, who he felt the closest thing to love for as he could feel since Lily was murdered. A child who he wished to guide and enable to be great.

A child who he would be forced to turn into a killer.

Hence the suicide attempts.

The Dark Lord believed that Harry would be one of those who react strongly to the use of Dark Magic. In such matters, Severus had long learned to trust the Dark Lord. If he was correct, as soon as Severus began training him for his initiation he would belong to the Dark Lord as truly as Bellatrix did. As truly as Severus did, now.

For the first time in many, many years, Severus Snape set out to get as drunk as he could.

* * *

 _Malfoy Manor_

Bartemius Crouch Snr had been very naughty indeed. The irony of it, one of his greatest enemies smuggling a convicted Death Eater out of Azkaban was almost enough to make Voldemort laugh. Almost, but not quite. Had Crouch perhaps kept his son in better conditions, it would have been enough to make him laugh. As it was, his lips merely turned up slightly when he thought of it.

The problem was, that helpful as it would be to have Barty back now, he was not yet willing for his return to be public. And Bartemius, as a senior ministry official, could not simply disappear without it becoming major news. He knew that Dumbledore already suspected his existence, and was loath to give the old man any more clues to put together. Bartemius had a powerful force of will, the Imperius would not last on him for too long. Memory charms were not wholly reliable. And so, he would have to leave one of his most devoted and loyal followers caged for a while longer. It would be at least another year, perhaps even two before he would be in a position to publicly reveal himself. Sometime before that, Barty would have to be rescued.

Hot anger flashed through Voldemort at the thought of the conditions his best Death Eaters were in. The Lestranges, in Azkaban. Barty, imperiused and held under an invisibility cloak in his father's detestable home.

No-one, no-one other than him had the right to do anything of the sort to his followers. They were his, and his alone.

He hated having to control his rage. When the house-elf had told him about "poor master Barty" and how he was kept, he had wanted to flay the disgusting creature. And yet, doing so would have alerted the paranoid Bartemius. So he had to rely on a Memory Charm, even though doing so irked him.

Soon, he promised himself. Soon, his followers would be his again, and only his. As before, so it would be.

And, even more importantly, his accidental Horcrux would be his, as well. Everything he had heard from Lucius and Severus had confirmed his original plans with regards to dealing with Potter. The boy would crumble like butter in his hands. He would join, that is for sure.

He would have to ensure the boy's protection. His Horcrux could not be endangered.

' _Perhaps, in time, I should nudge Potter into making his own?'_

But no, that could be far too dangerous. What if Potter was not able to create a Horcrux? It would mean the destruction of one of his own. A severing of one of his links to life. No, that would require far, far more research.

Perhaps a visit to Egypt? After all, it had been the Egyptians who created the original Horcruxes. Herpo the Foul merely brought the concept to Europe.

Yes, Egypt would be the ideal place for research. In fact, Voldemort had a faint recollection of reading of a pharaoh who had used a cat for a Horcrux. That would be the place to learn about the consequences of living Horcruxes.

Yes, he would go to Egypt. It would, in fact, be ideal to not be here when the boys came for holidays.

And perhaps, in Egypt, he could indulge his pleasures.

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	15. Chapter 10

**AN: I OWN NOTHING OF VALUE. WOE IS ME**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 10

Easter at the Malfoy's was different from the other times Harry had been there.

Of course, he had been asked all about "the horrid business" with the Chamber, and "That disgusting excuse for a wizard". It was most incredible, seeing Lucius and Narcissa worried and angry as he told them the stories.

The teachers had all shown their feelings for Harry but that was different. They were paid to care. Seeing Narcissa cry softly as Harry told how everyone had been treating him like a pariah was just—it was like having a mother.

But still, something was off. They were far more emotional than even the turmoil at Hogwarts could account for.

Lucius had given a long, and uncharacteristically, rambling speech about the importance of honor, glory, and power. Harry only really noticed something was weird from the looks Draco kept giving his parents.

They seemed far more-overprotective than Harry had ever noticed them being before. Their new elf, Tufty, followed Harry and Draco whenever they left the Manor. Even if they just went into the grounds.

"At least her cooking is better than her hiding" Draco had remarked when Harry pointed out the elf's conspicuous attempt at secretly watching them for the fifth time.

"Why're your parents so worried, anyway?"

"I dunno," Draco said, frowning. "It's not like them. They've always said about how no-one would dare do anything untoward to a Malfoy"

' _Must be nice'_

"Probably all the stuff going on at school's got them on edge. Giant killer snakes, crazy teachers. You know"

Harry chuckled ruefully. "Believe me, I know"

"You know what I meant"

"Yup"

Lucius also broke their previous tradition, by approaching Harry with a book himself. Even more oddly, while all of the previous books Harry had borrowed had been about theory or philosophy, this was entirely practical.

 _ **A compendium of Darkness**_

Based on the list of contents, it was an instruction manual for dozens, if not hundreds of curses and spells that were considered Dark. Harry would not have been surprised had Lucius told him that every spell in that book was banned and illegal to cast.

"Sir?" Harry said, looking up from the heavy, leather-bound tome in his hand. "Don't get me wrong, I'm really grateful, but why do you think it's so important that I read this book?"

Lucius simply looked at him. "I merely have a feeling that you will find it useful. Perhaps it is time for Draco and yourself to expand your extra-curricular activities. Broaden your horizons, so to speak."

Draco had been quite jealous.

"He gave it to you?" He had said incredulously, "He's never even let me look at it!"

"Well, he did definitely imply that it was for both of us to use, so-"

"Oh, come off it, Harry. He still gave it to you! Besides, we can't exactly practice these on each other! I mean, I'm all for learning this stuff, but you are not thinking of trying this blood boiling curse on me, are you? Or this eyeball deflating one?"

Harry just smiled at Draco, causing the other boy to shift nervously.

"Are you?"

Harry burst out laughing.

"God, Draco, you should have seen your face. Of course, I won't try them on you. Maybe Creevey though"

"Is that mudblood really still following you around?"

"Yeah. Now he wants me to teach him how to do the leg locker jinx"

"Merlins balls, they really are dumb, aren't they?"

"Yup. You know, Granger came to apologize for thinking I was the Heir"

"Of course she did. You know how mudbloods are. I'm sure all of Hufflepuff did as well"

"Well, yeah. But that's to be expected from Puffs. Their whole, everyone is kind and friendly and all that shite. I just thought Granger was smarter. I mean, she is practically top of the year in everything"

"That's what you get for growing up with Muggles"

Harry looked at Draco. It took him a few minutes to realize he was being stared at, but he looked back at Harry and said "What?"

"Seriously? That's what you get for growing up with Muggles?" He said, scornfully. Draco actually blushed, a little.

"You're different. You're not a mudblood, and you realized how weak and useless Muggles are. She hasn't. Probably won't. It's in her blood"

"It's in my blood too. My mum was a muggle-born"

"That's not the same thing"

"Why not?"

"It's like- You're a half-blood. But a half-blood like Tracey, not like Andrea. You have Muggle grandparents, but both your parents were magic"

"Had"

"What?"

"I had Muggle grandparents. They're dead, apparently. Snape told me"

"Whatever. Your parents were magical, and that's the point. Then there's a half-blood like Andrea-"

"Andrea Lucas?"

"Yeah. Her dad's a Muggle-"

"Really? She never seemed like that"

"Will you stop interrupting me?"

"My, my. Someone's feeling touchy today, Draco"

"Just. Whatever. Look, even a pureblood from the Sacred Twenty-Eight, for the most part, would marry someone with Muggle grandparents, as long as both parents are magic"

"Seriously? After all the talk about it being in the blood, and all that?"

"Well, it's more like there aren't enough true purebloods to keep it that way, so yeah, we just ignore it. My grandmother was a half-blood like you"

"Woah," Harry said, feigning utter shock. Draco seemed to buy it, though.

"We've always been far more pragmatic than many of the other families. It's much more important for someone not to be raised by Muggles, anyways"

"Why?"

"The more Muggle blood you have, the more likely you are to have a Squib for a child. Which is bad, but not that bad. Squibs get sent to live like Muggles, and they live in that world. They're a waste, but they don't ruin our world"

"And kids raised by Muggles?"

Draco, probably not noticing the acid below Harry's tone, went on.

"That's the problem. They come into our world with all their stupid ideas of how it should be run, all taken from the Muggles of course, and try change things. We go according to how tradition has proven it to work, not the Muggles' stupid innovations. They come in and complain about all sorts of things"

"Probably cause no-one ever told them any better"

"What?"

"Draco, I only found out I was a wizard when I turned eleven. Just before coming to Hogwarts, in fact. How the fuck was I meant to re-learn ten years of my life?"

Draco looked like he had been slapped.

"Harry, you aren't the problem"

"No, but you're lumping me right in with the rest of them. So maybe you should start making some sense"

"Damnit Harry, just listen. You never tried to tell us the way we were doing things is stupid. Other kids raised by Muggles do. Why?"

"Because I know Muggles are small-minded animals, and because I hated everything about almost every Muggle I met?"

"See! You could tell that we're better"

"Yes, Draco. But the kids who were raised in happy homes by their families don't feel that hate, and they just want to defend the way they were brought up. Is that really so bad?"

"Yes!" Draco stood up, flushed. "If they want to be in the Muggle world so much, they should just stay there!"

"Or maybe," Harry said slowly, "Maybe they should be taken from the Muggle world much earlier. They could be adopted by magical families too. Solve that issue"

"Well, yeah. But you aren't the first to think of that" Draco said, with a savage satisfaction on his face.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Father says there was a push in the Wizengamot to do exactly that, years and years ago. And you know who stopped it?"

"Dumbledore?" Harry guessed.

"Right in one. Who else, but the great champion of Muggle rights? He even fought Grindelwald, when all Grindelwald wanted to do was make sure Wizards didn't have to fear Muggles"

"Yeah, well I don't really care about all that. Honestly, all that matters to me about Dumbledore is that it's because of him I had to grow up in that shithole of a place. You'd think the smartest wizard in the world could have come up with a better plan, no?"

"Father has always said that Dumbledore…"

And so, Harry and Draco spent much of their time. Doing nothing more than lying on the grass in the spring weather, and talking. Oh, they did far more than that, they flew and practiced Quidditch (hard as it was with only two people), and read Lucius' books.

* * *

Daphne, Theo, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy came over one day, and that had been a lot of fun. After producing a snake ("fuck the trace, I'll do magic whenever I want to") Daphne had asked Harry to translate a conversation with it for her.

It had actually been really funny, laying on the grass with Daphne and a snake, and trying to explain about school to it.

" _$No-one has to teach a snake how to be a snake. We simply are$"_

"What did he say?"

"He said, no-one has to teach a snake how to be a snake, they simply are"

"Tell him humans are more complicated"

" _$Humans are more complicated$"_

" _$And far more foolish$"_

"He says we're more foolish"

"How dare he?" Daphne gasped in mock outrage.

" _$Why does your she smell like blood?$"_

"Hey, Daph. He wants to know why you smell like blood"

"Um," Daphne stuttered, eyes wide and face bright red.

" _$From her nether regions. Is she hurt?$"_

Harry could barely get the words out, he was laughing so hard.

"He wants to know if you were hurt in the nether regions" He managed after several tries.

"That's it," She said, outrage real this time, and vanished the snake.

"I'm going to—I'm going to go forget this ever happened"

"Don't worry Daphne! It's totally natural!" He shouted after her back.

She just put up a finger towards him, without even turning around.

Harry just sat on the grass and chuckled to himself. _'Merlin, but that was far too awkward. No wonder people think snakes are evil'_

* * *

A few days before they had to return to Hogwarts, Narcissa took Harry to buy himself a nice set of dress robes. She had been insistent that he would not be going to his Order of Merlin ceremony in his day to day robes, and would be buying something nice for the occasion.

"Besides, while we're there, you can buy something to wear when you have to be at that _man's_ trial". Like her husband, Narcissa would not refer to Lockhart by name.

At Madam Malkin's, Harry learned to stay silent while Narcissa and Madam Malkin discussed him. It only took him trying to give input three times before he understood that he really knew nothing about fashion, and was honestly hopeless when it came to what looked good him.

"And is there nothing better you can do with your hair?"

By this point, Harry was starting to get quite irritated.

"Well, I used it to brush it every morning, but I gave up when it would look like this by the time I finished breakfast"

"Hmmph" The disgruntled proprietor grunted.

In the end, Harry left the store with two sets of dress robes. One was dark grey with green linings, and would "Set off your hair and eyes magnificently". That, he would wear to the ceremony.

The other was far more somber, jet black, with only hints of silver around the cuffs and neck. It would "Give off the right impression. That you are taking the trial seriously. People set a lot of store by clothes". Apparently, Narcissa did.

* * *

The ceremony was actually quite boring. Harry stood in a line with all the Aurors who had been a part of the attack on the basilisk while Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic gave an incredibly long speech about bravery and courage and all the things that made Britain great. Harry tried to concentrate on it, he really did, but it was honestly almost as bad as one of Binns' lectures. He soon found himself spacing out, and looking at the crowd. Most of them were obviously the families and friends of the Aurors, but the Malfoys were there, as were most of Harry's friends, Professor Snape, and Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter, Order of Merlin, First Class"

Harry stepped forwards, to where Fudge was waiting with the beautiful medal. It seemed to be solid gold, was about double the size of a Galleon, and had a green ribbon hanging from it.

"At twelve years of age, you are the youngest recipient of any Order of Merlin in history, with the exception of Melvin Fratcomb, who received it along with the rest of his family at age eleven. I am proud to present you with this medal, and may you wear it for many years in good health, as a representative of the best Britain has to offer"

There was a round of applause as Fudge affixed the medal to Harry's robes. A camera flash went off. Fudge shook Harry's hand, and he walked off the podium as the next recipient was called.

"The youngest in history," Draco said, badly imitating Fudge. "What an honor, Harry Potter!"

"Oh shut up, you," Harry said, nudging him with his elbow.

"Just making sure your head doesn't get too big"

Harry's grin didn't fade.

By the time the whole ceremony was finished, Harry was famished. He had eaten a large breakfast, but still, it was lunchtime by now. Luckily, they were all ushered into a ballroom where there were tables lined with food, buffet style. Ignoring Draco's whining about the shoddy quality of Ministry food, Harry piled a plate high and began eating, pausing every few minutes to receive congratulations.

"Harry, I'm pleased to see that you seem to be enjoying your holiday"

Harry turned to where Dumbledore was standing, with his own plate of food.

"Youngest in history, with apologies to Mr. Fratcombe. Your parents would be most proud"

Harry swallowed. He didn't really like thinking of his parents, to be honest. They were strangers to him. Oh, he could appreciate on an intellectual level that he had, once upon a time, had parents. That his parents loved him enough to die attempting to protect him. But on an emotional level? Well, most of the time, they meant nothing.

Most of the time.

"Thank you, Headmaster," he said, voice scratchy.

"Don't mention it, my boy. You know, the green ribbon on your medal represents Slytherin House? It's where Merlin was, as a student"

"Really?"

"Really really," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling. "Just think, you might be sleeping in the same bed he did, centuries ago"

That was pretty amazing.

"I did not only approach you to offer my congratulations, deserved as they are. I must inform you that Gilderoy Lockhart's trial date has been set"

"Oh?" Harry said, trying to appear disinterested, but his heart began beating quite hard.

"Yes. It has been set for Monday, the 17th of May. Due to my being a witness, and a possible conflict of interest, I will not be heading the trial. Regardless, you require either myself or Professor Snape to accompany you, as a minor. I will be going either way, but if you prefer?"

"Professor Snape, please"

Nothing showed on his face, but Dumbledore felt like he had been stung.

"Of course, of course," he said, with a cheery smile. "I'll confirm all the details with him"

"Thank you, sir"

"It is my pleasure. Make sure you try the broiled ham, it is one of the few things the Ministry is truly successful at"

With that, Albus Dumbledore meandered off.

* * *

The night before returning to Hogwarts, Harry woke up in the middle of a fitful sleep with a gasp.

He had been dreaming. A similar dream to one he had been having over the past few nights, too.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to remember the details, and why it left him feeling so damn good.

He could remember something about screaming, maybe? And someone rolling on the floor? What the hell had he been dreaming about?

He couldn't remember exactly, only that he had been strong. So strong.

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	16. Chapter 11

**AN: I AM NOT JKR. I AM NOT A REPRESENTATIVE OF WARNER BROS. ERGO, I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 11

Hogwarts was different the last term. For one thing, there was no more Defence Against the Dark Arts. The class had been canceled for the remainder of the year for everyone except fifth and seventh years. Apparently, Dumbledore himself would be teaching those years. Additionally, they had been told there would be no Defence exam. Which was good, because honestly, what would the exam even be on? Lockhart hadn't taught them anything of value. Except, perhaps, for a lesson on the naivete of the wizarding world.

Another thing that was different, was the fact that they would be choosing classes. From next year on, they had to take at least two electives. They would still have to do the basics, History, Transfiguration, Defence, Herbology, Potions, Astrology and Charms, but they had to take two additional classes. The classes offered were—interesting.

Harry had no real idea what he was going to choose, only that he wanted to take Magical Theory. Unfortunately, that didn't count as one of the two. Also, that class only met once a week. The only other thing that he was sure of was that he wouldn't be taking Muggle Studies. He had enough of Muggles to last a lifetime. Even a wizard's lifetime.

So he decided to ask Professor Snape.

"What you take, Harry depends on what you want to achieve," Snape said, peering down his nose at Harry.

"That's the thing, sir. I have no idea what I want to do. I don't know what job I would want to get, or anything. How am I meant to decide now?"

Snape heaved a great sigh.

"Harry, your choices for third year are not absolute. You can drop classes, possibly even pick up classes. Besides, you will receive career advice shortly before taking your OWL's, and can make your decisions for sixth year based on that"

"Oh" was really all Harry could say.

"What my question meant, is are you like many of your peers who simply wish to choose the subjects that will be easiest to get high marks in, or do you want more?"

Harry was silent, mulling over the question.

' _Of course, I want more. I want everything I can get'  
_

"It has not escaped my attention how many students picked Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. Both notoriously easy classes, and both classes that are not exactly the hotbed of interest for everyone"

"I want to be the best"

"Excuse me?"

Harry spoke louder. "I want to be the best at magic. As good as I could be, at least. I want to know everything I can, that will help me do things with magic"

Something, some strange expression crossed Snape's face for an instant.

"Well then, I would advise taking Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. If, as I assume you will, you take the Magical Theory option, then sixth year you will find many more optional classes become available. Warding, for example, is only available to one who has studied Ancient Runes and Magical Theory. Arithmancy is one that goes nicely with Magical Theory as well. If you truly want the foundation of Magic, these classes are your best option. If you wish to craft your own spells or potions one day, these classes will help you in that"

"What about Divination?"

Snape's face was totally unreadable.

"Divination is perhaps the most imprecise of all the magical arts. More than that, it is not something that can be learned if you do not have the innate talent, which is rare. If you did have the talent, you would be aware of it by now, on some level at least"

"Oh. I guess that's a no for me"

"Indeed. As for Care of Magical Creatures, unless you are planning on going into a career which will be dealing with them on a regular basis, you will be able to understand enough from reading the theory to deal with the creatures if you do ever come face to face with them"

"Thank you, sir," Harry said, standing to leave, "I think I have a better idea now"

"Harry" Snape called, as Harry was about to leave his office. "We must meet sometime, to prepare for your trial. I will not have you being an embarrassment due to not knowing courtroom etiquette"

"Yes, sir"

* * *

As the days drew nearer to the trial, Harry found himself getting increasingly nervous. He would have to speak publicly about what had happened. What if he sounded stupid? What if they didn't believe him? More than addressing the Wizengamot, he was worried about appearing in the daily prophet. There had been a blurb in the paper about the upcoming trial, and how a reporter would be on the floor to record it for the masses. It was quite-intimidating.

Luckily, there were plenty of distractions to be had at Hogwarts.

For one, there were the Quidditch finals. After training and training for hours in all sorts of formations, the actual game was extremely anticlimactic. Draco managed to catch the Snitch before either team had even scored once! Harry hadn't even touched a Quaffle that game. Nevertheless, the celebration was amazing, albeit having to drag Theo out of the common room when he passed out on the floor.

And after that, Harry began studying for exams. It was still early, but what with the trial coming up he would have a pretty big interruption. It would probably take a few days afterward to get it out of his head and get back into the swing of things.

* * *

The day of the trial dawned bright and hot. Harry put his dress robes on with trembling fingers. He didn't have that big a part to play, but he would be the first witness called, and he knew he had to be as accurate as possible.

He made his way down to Professor Snape's office, where he found Snape waiting for him in front of his fireplace.

"You have traveled by Floo before, have you not?"

"Yes, sir"

"Good. You will go first. Ministry of Magic"

Harry took some of the powder Snape held to him and threw it into the fire.

"Ministry of Magic!" He said, stepping into the green flames.

' _God, I really hate this. There must be a better way of travel. Even apparition is better than this'_

Soon enough, the terrible squeezing and crushing sensation finished and Harry stepped out of a fireplace onto a wooden floor in a large room.

He looked around at the place. It was impressive. Rows and rows of fireplaces, with gold surrounding them.

Harry looked up, expecting the ceiling to be enchanted like Hogwarts'. It wasn't, but it was a nice blue color, with strange golden symbols moving around it.

The fireplace behind him hummed, and Snape popped out of it.

"Come, we don't have much time to get there"

He followed Snape down the room, towards a set of golden gates with a wizard at a desk next to them. He wanted to stop and look at the fountain, but Snape didn't even slow down.

"Severus Snape, accompanying Harry Potter, who is here as a witness for a trial," Snape said to the wizard, who's badge labeled him Eric.

"Wands please," he said, in a bored voice.

Snape and Harry handed their wands over, and Eric ran them through an oddly shaped device, which would have looked perfectly at home on Dumbledore's shelf. After whirring and shaking for a few minutes, it let out two small pieces of paper, which he examined closely before saying "12 inches, apple, and dragon heartstring"

"That is mine," Snape said, and Eric handed his wand back.

"11 inches, holly and phoenix feather"

"Mine," Harry said after Eric made no move to return his wand.

"I keep these," he said, waving the receipts. "Courtroom ten. You know the way?"

"Yes," Snape replied curtly.

The courtroom itself was a large square room. There were rows of benches that rose up, leaving a chair in the middle of the room below, as if in a canyon.

Lockhart was already in the chair, chains binding his arms to it. Harry and Snape slid into the room just before the trial began.

"Let us begin," said the severe-looking witch sitting directly ahead of Lockhart, "Is everyone ready?"

After she received whatever sign she had been waiting for, she began speaking.

"Trial of the 17th of May into offenses committed under the ruling for protection of memories, by Gilderoy Lockhart, former teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Interrogators: Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister for Magic; Rufus Scrimgeour, Chief Auror. Court Scribe: Bartleby Skunk"

She peered at Lockhart through her monocle. "You will be representing yourself?"

"Of course," He said, giving a wide smile. It looked a bit odd against his much paler than usual skin.

"Lovely" she muttered.

"The charges are as follows: Fifteen counts of Obliviation without a license;

One count of Total Obliviation;

Two counts of Obliviation of a minor;

Attempted Obliviation of a minor;

Fifteen counts of Impersonation;

And finally, fifteen counts of Fraud. How do you plead?"

Lockhart's face had slowly been losing all vestiges of a smile during the reading, and he managed to squeak out "Not Guilty"

Immediately, the assembled witches and wizards began muttering to one another. One witch, in particular, wearing jeweled spectacles and curly blonde hair, seemed to be writing furiously.

' _She must be the reporter'_

"You lying bag of dragon droppings!" Came a furious shout from a plump, red-headed witch.

"Mrs. Weasley, sit down and be silent or you will be removed," Madam Bones said, and Mrs. Weasley did so, blushing strongly.

"The prosecution calls its first witness. Harry James Potter, please stand"

Harry stood up, feeling the stares upon him. The reporter looked like Christmas had come early.

"Please state your name and age for the record"

"Harry James Potter, age twelve"

"And you are a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? In your second year?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Please state what occurred between the accused and yourself"

For a moment, Harry wondered what would happen if he just started giggling. He got control of himself quickly though and began to talk.

"Professor Dumbledore had announced that I would be receiving the Order of Merlin, First Class for helping the Aurors in their investigation at Hogwarts. The next day, Lo- the accused told me to stay after his class"

"He was teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, correct?"

"Yes. I stayed behind while the other students left"

"What did he want from you?"

"He-he wanted to accuse me of stealing his fame"

There was a smattering of laughter from the benches.

"What did he say, exactly?"

"At first, he wasn't making sense. He asked me if I thought he wouldn't realize. When I said I had no idea what he was talking about, he said it straight up. He said I was trying to steal his fame"

"And what did you say?"

"I-I was just taken aback. I laughed"

"And how did he react to that?"

"He got very angry. He said something about how I knew he had the Order of Merlin Third Class, and that I wanted to one-up him so I opened the Chamber of Secrets so that I could help the Aurors close it and get the First Class. He said I did this all because I knew I would never be as famous as him, or as accomplished"

One of the members of the Wizengamot actually started laughing hysterically at that. They waited a few minutes for him to calm down before Madam Bones asked: "And what did you say to that?"

"Um. I got angry. I uh, shouted at him"

"Understandable. What did you actually say, if you don't mind?"

"I said I was already more famous than him. Every Witch and Wizard in Britain knows my name. I said he was the worst Defence teacher in years, and that I didn't believe he did any of the things he said he did"

"And how did he react to that?"

"He went white. I said I was right, and it was all lies. But then he started speaking"

In his chair, Lockhart shifted, looking like he wanted to say something. Harry just carried on.

"He said that the only lie was that he had done them. That it was a public service, and that people wouldn't be interested in hearing about a witch with a harelip, no matter how many werewolves she had fought. How he deserved the fame. I asked him if they were just fine with that, but he said they didn't know. And that I wouldn't remember it either. He pointed his wand at me and said he would try not to take too much, and something about Eastern China. Then he tried to Obliviate me"

"How did you escape that?"

"I managed to dodge the spell. He told me to stay still and tried again, but I got a Shield charm up in time"

"You managed a Shield Charm that withstood it?" She asked, sounding impressed.

"Yes"

"Go, on. After casting the Shield Charm, what did you do?"

' _I am not going to look very good, am I?'_

"I uh, conjured some snakes, and sent them at him"

Muttering broke out around the courtroom again, while Harry waited for the follow-up question. When there was none, he carried on.

"After he sent the one snake across the room, I disarmed him. I told the snakes to stop him from leaving, and ran out of the room"

"You told the snakes?" Madam Bones said, incredulously

"I'm a Parselmouth," he said, shrugging.

The muttering grew to a loud level, and Madam Bones shouted "Quiet! Mr. Potter, go on. You left the classroom, and then?"

"I was shouting for help. Professor McGonagall came running. I told her what happened, and she sent some type of message to Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape. She told Dumbledore to bring his Pensieve. When she came into the classroom, Lockhart was cowering in the corner"

Everyone laughed at that. Lockhart started saying something but stopped himself.

"He told her I had gone mad and attacked him. Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape came. I told them the story, and Professor Dumbledore asked me to give him my memory of what happened. They watched it. Then they, uh, contacted the Ministry'

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. Do you have anything to add?"

"No"

"Very well. Does the defense wish to question the witness?"

"Yes!" Lockhart shouted.

"Go on"

"Mr. Potter, bearing in mind that you are legally obligated to tell the truth. Do you deny that you are jealous of my fame?" Lockhart asked, triumphantly.

Harry just looked at him, bewildered.

"Not in the least. I've never wanted to be famous. I'm famous because my parents were murdered. I would rather no one knew who I was"

"Liar!" Lockhart said, gloatingly.

"Mr. Lockhart! You will refrain from insulting the witness! Do you have any further questions?"

"None. But I wish to add that the boy is obviously lying"

Madam Bones just looked at him.

"Noted"

"The prosecution calls Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"

Dumbledore stood up, looking resplendent in his silvery robes.

"Chief Warlock Dumbledore" Madam Bones said, reverently, "What can you add to Mr. Potter's tale?"

"Very little. As he said, I came to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom with the Hogwarts Pensieve as soon as Minerva summoned me. After examining Mr. Potter's memory, I decided the Ministry needed to be called in. Additionally, we decided to check if any of the students had suffered any form of memory loss, and to examine them for Memory Charms"

"What did you find?"

"We discovered that two first-year girls, roommates, had memories removed. This was confirmed by myself, the school nurse, and a senior member of the Obliviator Squad"

"What can you tell us about their memories?"

"We were unable to restore their memories. The charm used was particularly powerful. As such, it would be dangerous to attempt a Memory Restoration. However, we were able to verify that one of the students had many memories from throughout the year taken, while the other one was only missing under an hour's worth"

Harry looked over where Mrs. Weasley was clutching her husband and crying in impotent rage. A suspicion began to fill him about who this first-year girl was.

"Was there any evidence that the accused was the one who cast these spells?"

"None, other than his own admission of being particularly skilled at them, and his own willingness to cast them on a student, as was shown with Mr. Potter"

"Thank you, Chief Warlock. Does the defense have any questions for the witness?"

"How do you know that Pensieve memory was accurate?" Lockhart said, looking hopeful.

"It was independently examined by a senior member of the Obliviator Squad, and the Chief Unspeakable of the Cave of Memories"

Lockhart's face fell. "No further questions"

Dumbledore sat back down.

"The prosecution calls Auror Kingsley Shacklebot"

A heavy set, dark skinned wizard stood up.

"Auror Shacklebolt, you were placed in charge of this investigation, correct?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Along with Oscar Cordimon, of the Obliviator Squad" He said, in a rich, deep voice.

"What were your findings?"

"In every village or location where the accused had supposedly performed his heroics, we found evidence of Memory Charms. We were successful in performing a Memory Restoration on one Mary-Ann de Albinio, of the wizarding village of Wagga Wagga. She is the "witch with a harelip" the accused made mention of"

"What was the result of the Memory Restoration?"

"She remembered fighting off werewolves after a series of attacks in the village. Shortly after, before it became common knowledge, she was approached by the accused, who feigned being a reporter, and interviewed her. The last piece of memory she restored, was turning around to pour some tea, and hearing him cast the Memory Charm at her"

"She is not present?"

"No. She is currently in St. Mungo's, being treated for severe trauma. However, her memory is in the court Pensieve, and has been examined by Oscar and the Chief Unspeakable"

"What else did you discover during the investigation?"

"We were particularly interested in Eastern China, based on the accused's statements regarding it. We discovered, that a wizard in the village of Xiochi, had suddenly lost all his memories approximately four years ago. Based on International Portkey usage, the accused was in the area during that time"

"When you say lost all his memories…"

"He was in a vegetative state, remembering absolutely nothing. He could not walk, nor feed himself, and was no longer even toilet trained. The healers on his case described it as similar to a victim of the Dementor's kiss"

A sea of horrified faces looked at Lockhart, who kept his eyes focused on the floor.

"Do you have anything further to add?"

"No, Ma'am"

"Does the defense have any questions for the witness?"

"No"

"Very well. There are no further witnesses to be called. Does the defense wish to call a witness?"

"No"

"Does the defense wish to make a statement before the sentence is handed down?"

"Only that I was correct in my actions. It was all for the sake of the public who deserved to know these stories and deserved a face they could look up to. I was right to do everything, and you all know it. And I didn't do anything to those girls, I didn't even remove their memories. You all know I was correct, I deserve to be famous, and you all wish you could do what I did"

Looking totally taken aback, Madam Bones recovered her composure long enough to say.

"All in favor of a life sentence in Azkaban?"

And every hand belonging to a Wizengamot member was raised.

"Very well. Gilderoy Lockhart, you are hereby sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban Prison, and I must say, it is rare to see one who deserves it as well as you do"

"NO!" Lockhart was screaming as he was dragged out of the courtroom by two Aurors. His screams and threats followed them, as he was pulled away.

"This trial is adjourned".

Arriving back at Hogwarts, Snape only said one thing to Harry.

"I wouldn't read the paper if I were you. That reporter" He filled the word with acid, "Is not known to be a kind, truth-seeking woman".

Harry took his advice.

It was really just a shame that all of Lockhart's fans didn't.

 **TWO MORE(SHORT) CHAPTERS UNTIL YEAR THREE: HARRY POTTER AND THE YEAR OF BROKEN CHAINS, BEGINS. WITH IT, COMES THE TRUE BEGINNING OF DARK!/EVIL! HARRY**

 **REMINDER TO ADD ME TO YOUR AUTHOR ALERTS IF YOU HAVENT ALREADY, AS I WILL BE POSTING IT AS A SEPARATE STORY.**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW**


	17. Chapter 12

**AN: I OWN NOTHING**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY**

Chapter 12

When the first owl arrived in front of Harry with a bright red envelope clutched in its talons, Harry did nothing other than to stare at it, confused.

In fairness, he wasn't a morning person, and he had gotten to bed later than usual the previous night. Everyone had wanted to know what had happened at the trial.

He had seen Howler's before, of course. Longbottom had gotten one, as had the Weasley twins.

Nevertheless, Harry simply stared stupidly at the red envelope in front of him, which had now started smoking at the edges.

"Open it! They're worse if you let them explode!" Draco hissed. Opposite him, Theo and Daphne were nodding furiously.

With shaking hands, Harry slit the envelope open.

It was fucking loud.

"AND YOU THINK YOU'RE NEARLY AS GOOD AS GILDEROY LOCKHART! YOU ARROGANT, JEALOUS LITTLE BOY! HOW DARE YOU TAKE YOUR JEALOUSY OUT ON SUCH AN AMAZING WIZARD! YOU ARE NOTHING MORE THAN A DISGUSTING ATTENTION SEEKER, AND-"

It went on in this vein for quite a while. Harry stood, mortified, throughout the whole tirade, while around him the Great Hall seemed to acclimatize to the shouting in it. After around ten minutes, the rant was finished.

Harry sat back down, beet-red.

"Sounds like Lockhart's fans aren't so happy with you, eh," Theo said snidely. 

"What gave you that impression?" Harry asked.

Within the week, Harry received an additional fifteen Howlers. One of the Prefects had taken to casting a silencing charm on them as soon as they arrived, and Harry eagerly learned the charm.

More than that, though, was the sixty or so angry letters. About twenty of them were from one Gladys Gudgeon, who claimed that she was going to be sending Harry a curse. He started incinerating every piece of mail he got from someone he didn't know.

He decided to ignore Snape's advice and to read what that reporter had written about him. 

It wasn't actually that bad.

He was quoted, almost word for word. She had left out about his being a Parselmouth though, and he was quite glad for that.

In actual fact, she had made him look good. She described him as "Bravely telling the truth to ensure justice is done", and having "Rugged-good looks" which was embarrassing, but gratifying. The one thing Harry wished she had done differently was when Lockhart accused him of being jealous of his fame. She wrote, "While The Boy-Who-Lived denied this hurtful accusation, he did not bring any articles of proof to show his denial".

What was he meant to do? Have a notarized letter saying that he wasn't jealous?

And the angry letters continued. Professor Snape pulled Harry aside and told him that if he would be opening the letters he should wear his Dragonhide gloves. Apparently, it wasn't unknown for people to send corrosive substances or harmful potions in letters! ' _What the fuck is wrong with these people? The man is probably a child rapist, but it's me they hate?'_

Snape had been pleased when Harry told him that he had started burning all the letters.

And the letters and Howlers continued. An opinion piece appeared in the Daily Prophet, written by none other than Gladys Gudgeon, about how Harry Potter had framed the wonderful Gilderoy Lockhart in an attempt to steal his fame.

The next day, Harry received five Howlers at breakfast alone and twenty angry letters. 

And Harry's rage grew.

Professor Snape pulled Harry aside again, to tell him that Dumbledore would be willing to intercept Harry's mail and ensure there was no more Howlers or hurtful letters. He said Dumbledore hadn't been willing to do this beforehand, due to the egregious breach of privacy it would be, but if Harry wanted, he would do so.

He had to think quite hard about it. It would be a big plus, not having to worry about the letters he was receiving.

Then again, he didn't want anyone else reading his private mail. Not that he had much of that, but still, it was the concept more than anything else.

He turned down the offer.

The next day, there was an opinion piece in the Prophet, written by Mrs. Weasley, about how Lockhart was an evil, disgusting man, and how Harry was totally in the right.

There were very few letters or Howlers the next day. However, there was an article in the Prophet, about how Ginny Weasley had her memory modified by Lockhart. It also had all sorts of theories and speculation about what exactly Lockhart did to her.

Ginny went home early.

The next day, Rita Skeeter published an apology. It apparently was very rare for her to do so, but it wasn't really an apology. It simply said " _ **We were incorrect to publish details of a minor, and should not have done so"**_

It wasn't even in a particularly big font. 

Draco made a stupid comment to Ron about how now, not only was his sister a poor blood-traitor, but she was also used goods.

Ron hexed Draco.

Harry hexed Ron.

Granger hexed Crabbe, who was about to punch Longbottom for some reason.

Luckily, Snape found them. Gryffindor lost thirty points, and Weasley, Granger, and Longbottom all got detentions.

Exams began, and difficult as it was to keep his mind on the subjects at hand, Harry managed. He thought he did ok until the results came. 

Then he found out he came top of his Slytherin year, and in the top three in his year overall.

He figured if he didn't have the boundless stupidity of humans to deal with, he would have come in first.

As usual, he made plans to go to Draco over the break. It was gratifying, to be invited back to the Malfoys. Draco made it a lot better when he told him that all incoming owls were automatically tested. And Howlers weren't allowed. 

"And you'll see Harry, by the time we start next year, they'll all have forgotten about the whole Lockhart thing"

At the End-of-Year feast, Harry was called up to the Head Table. He had his picture taken, shaking Dumbledore's hand and holding his very own trophy for 'Special Services Offered'

Of course, Slytherin won the House-Cup. It would have been difficult for them not to.

As they got on the train and settled in for the long ride back to London, all Harry could hope for was that next year would be better. 

**AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**

 **I DID TELL YOU THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS WOULD BE SHORT ;)**

 **ADD ME TO AUTHOR ALERTS, IF YOU HAVEN'T. THERE IS AN EPILOGUE COMING, AND THEN STORY NUMBER 3: HARRY POTTER AND THE YEAR OF BROKEN CHAINS, WILL BEGIN. IM POSTING IT AS A SEPARATE STORY. IT WILL BE INTENSE.  
**


	18. Epilogue

**AN: I OWN NOTHING**

 **PLEASE REVIEW/P.M. ME**

 **ENJOY!**

Epilogue

Albus Dumbledore rested his chin on his steepled fingers and sighed, thinking of the events of the year. Fawkes cooed softly beside him, and he changed position to scratch his head.

He was terribly worried.

The terrible things Harry had been through hadn't ended when he left the orphanage. No, he was suffering at Hogwarts.

Albus had watched as Harry became more and more ostracized as the year went on. He tried to help, but there was little he could do. The Heads of House could announce punishments until they were blue in the face, but it simply wouldn't stop children from being afraid, or even hating another student.

And so Harry had suffered.

And then, Harry had gone into the Chamber, aiding the Task Force. It had been wonderful, and Albus had been sure it would begin the healing he so desperately needed. He watched, overjoyed, as students from other houses came and apologized to Harry for their conduct. He knew Harry hadn't necessarily appreciated the apologies, but they would begin closing the gaps.

And then Gilderoy had struck.

When Minerva's Patronus had come into his office, Albus had near had a heart attack. Harry was in the center of things, yet again.

And after the trial, the furious fans.

Albus was truly afraid.

Harry was in a prime position for his heart to fill with hate. For his soul to be consumed with rage. Albus would be loath to let that happen to any student under his care, but Harry Potter? Son of James and Lily, people he had felt proud to call comrades in arms? The child of prophecy foretold to defeat Voldemort, through his capability to love.

No.

Albus could not let that happen.

The problem becomes, then. What could he do?

The boy needs nothing more than love, care, and attention. The boy needs to be made to feel accepted. This was not entirely in Albus' control.

Remus would help. He was a good choice for Defence Against the Dark Arts. He would be able to hold the class' interest, and more importantly, to impart knowledge to them.

And Remus was a warm, kind man, with a truly gentle soul.

And Remus had been close to Harry's parents.

' _Yes. I will ask Remus to try form a relationship with Harry. It can only help him. Help him truly flesh out his parents, into real people. I doubt Severus has been much help with that'_. Dumbledore suppressed a snort. The only person worse than Severus to ask about his parents would be the caretaker. Or at least, about his father.

But still, that wouldn't be enough. ' _No. I have delegated the issue of Harry Potter for too long. And why? Because I am too afraid to face my mistakes. I must attempt to draw the boy in. To show him, love. Shown love, he will warm'  
_

Yes. That would be it. Perhaps offer tutelage in Magical Theory? He seems interested enough in that. Or maybe even something not offered on the curriculum. Maybe offer to teach him whatever he wants to learn.

' _He does seem to love knowledge. He could easily pass for Ravenclaw, in fact'_

It was settled, in Albus' mind at least. He would offer Harry lessons in whatever he wished. That should be enough to bring the boy closer.

* * *

Severus Snape wished he could simply kill himself.

Watching the thestral-drawn carriages depart the school, Snape knew he would soon be receiving communications from his master. And no matter what Harry chose, he would suffer. He would be terribly tortured if Harry rejected the Dark Lord's offer, and he would feel pain whenever he looked at Harry if he accepted it.

Severus Snape simply wished he could kill himself. But alas, he could not. So he went back to his potion brewing and awaited his summons.

* * *

And in the study of Malfoy Manor, one of the chairs was occupied. The Malfoys had gone out, wanting to do some shopping before picking up their precious son and his friend from the train. In the meantime, their guest sat and went over his plans.

And waited.

 **AND THAT'S A WRAP!**

 **HOPEFULLY TOMORROW I WILL BEGIN POSTING BOOK 3: HARRY POTTER AND THE YEAR OF BROKEN CHAINS. WE WILL BEGIN WITH A SHORT PROLOGUE, AND CHAPTER ONE. HOPEFULLY, I WILL BE ABLE TO GET THEM BOTH OUT BEFORE THE WEEKEND.  
**

 **IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, ADD ME TO YOUR AUTHOR ALERTS.**

 **AS ALWAYS, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW.**

 **THANKS FOR READING**


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